Knob of the Turner
by Blouta
Summary: In a desperate attemp to set things right, Harry plans to go back to his first year. But when all goes wrong, he finds himself thrown into 1977 where more people than just his Godfather are alive.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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Prologue

Harry Potter sat in an isle in the Department of Mysteries. His Invisibility cloak draped over his shoulder and a time turner in his hand. The security hadn't been improved, nor had anyone been put on guard. Over his other shoulder was a sack full of his most treasured possessions. The Marauder's Map, his Firebolt, the shattered remains of the mirror Sirius had given him, the photo album of his parents, and a few pictures of him, Sirius, Hermione, and the Weasleys at 12 Grimauld Place. He knew it was ridiculous to bring them to where he was going, but he couldn't risk them not being there, they were a part of him. Their purpose was to remind him of all that had happened to drive him to this level of desperation. He didn't care what others would think of him, it wasn't like they would remember for long.

He was taking a risk, he knew, but it was worth a shot. Too many people had died because of him, only this time it was someone he actually had the chance to get to know, it was this one that made him make up his mind. He would do it all over again, he would try again, he would make the lives of those he loved better.

This time around, Ginny would not be taken to the Chamber of Secrets, this time he would do all he could to make sure that Sirius is proven innocent; Scabbers wouldn't get in the way. This time, he would befriend Neville and Luna earlier. This time, Cedric Diggory would live, although he knew that he couldn't stop Voldemort from returning, even though it would be better for him, he now knew that he was the only chance for the Wizarding World and had to take down Voldemort while he still could, whether he liked it not. And this time, _this time_, Sirius would _live, _live the life he deserved.

Harry closed his eyes and ran the plan through his head yet another time.

He would go back to his first year, do all he could to make peoples' lives better, even if it meant that his would not be. He might even make another DA, everyone knew that the only decent Defense teacher they would ever get would be Lupin, and that wouldn't be for an entire two years after he returned. They needed to be prepared for the war that was fast approaching.

He got up, looked around, and took a deep breath. _This is it Harry, last chance…_

He had found a spell that he would use for when he was back. It would somehow join his spirit with his younger self. Hermione, unaware that he was actually asking for his own benefit, had explained the process thoroughly. He knew how it worked, and he knew how it was performed.

_She's going to be furious, _Harry thought, _But she'll forget soon enough… _

He felt a pang of sadness, but it was for the best, the best for everyone, everyone would live and be out of danger, even if it meant he would have to stay away from them.

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His palm was white, his fingers clutching at the Turner aggressively. It was the only one he could find, but he doubted that it was the last. The medal frame around the hour glass was slightly bent, but he didn't care, didn't think that it would affect anything. It was bigger than Hermione's had been . About as long and wide as a pop bottle.

Harry put the Invisibility Cloak inside the sack. _Now or Never…._

_Three turns to go back just a few hours so a hundred some turns later I should be there, and if not, I'll just keep turning it. _

It probably wouldn't work, most likely it wouldn't. He wasn't even sure if you could take a Time Turner that far back. Most likely not.

He started twisting it, farther and faster with each turn. His pain and sorrow seeping through, he kept turning, not pausing if only for a moment as he probably should have.

The hour glass began to stick, screeching with each spin. But Harry hadn't noticed. The glass was cracking, it was already dinted and beat up before, but now the crack grew farther up the side. Harry was getting angry; it wasn't going as fast as should, why wasn't it working? So he applied more pressure, became more aggressive.

He kept going, on and on, till the glass could handle no more.

The sand inside the glass was spilling out the crack that had grown. The powder fell onto the floor and covered Harry's hands. It turned red, burning his skin, lighting up the isle. He flung the Turner on the ground and buried his hands inside his robe, the cry of agony held behind closed lips, not wanting to alert anyone of a break in.

Smoke was rising, an eerie green despite the red sand. Harry was coughing, but he couldn't move, the smoke somehow paralyzing him. It grew, and went higher still until it covered him completely. A blinding flash as a fire started, and the smoke grew higher. A house elf sounded an alarm, the smoke was spreading. Unspeakables rushed to the elf who simply pointed to the flames.

As one Unspeakable grasped the time turner in his hand, another pointed to it with his wand. Their eyes met, they turned, and told the others.

"Harry Potter has disappeared."

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Harry landed roughly on his hands. The howl of pain stayed once again silent. His hands were a vivid red and blisters covered his fingers. The ground was shaking and he looked up to see Hagrid running over.

"Yeh okay? What 'appened to yer hands?" His voice was filled with honest sincerity and his face was kind. But it showed no recognition.

Harry looked up, his messy black hair had been hiding his face, but as soon as it was shown, Hagrid's expression changed. Harry's stomachs dropped, Hagrid knew who he was, it hadn't worked.

But there was something different about Hagrid. Harry looked closer. There was a line of worry above his brow, like the one that had just started to show after Harry's fourth year. But his face looked younger, lighter, and despite the worry line, _happier, _and more carefree_. _

_Maybe I went back far enough, _but then his eyes widened in horror. If he was indeed back in time, in his first year, and he did look like Harry, but yet looked sixteen….

But Hagrid proved him wrong with his next sentence.

"James, wha' are yeh up ter now?" He boomed, a smile splitting his face. Harry gulped and stared back in shock.

James_…_ James _Potter_?!

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**AN: So here it is; the re-write of Knob of the turner. I had major writer's block and realized it was because of poor writing and not a clue of how to end this story. Now I have an ending and just need to figure out how to get there. Hopefully my writing improves as well. **


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Posted 11-20-12

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The smile on Hagrid's face fell and suddenly he looked much older, "Who are yeh?"

Harry quickly got up using his legs, and gently put his hands inside his pocket with a wince. "I'm the new exchange student, Harry Nelson. The portkey was supposed to take me to the Headmaster's office. I guess it didn't work too well." He smiled weakly. Hagrid didn't look convinced.

"Dumbledore never said nuthin about no exchange student." His umbrella shook menacingly.

Harry didn't know how to answer that.

He suddenly felt a large weight on his collar and realized it was Hagrid's hand dragging him roughly toward the castle. Harry pushed down the feeling of betrayal and rationalized that this Hagrid didn't know who he was. They walked the hallways with Harry being half dragged until they reached the statue.

"Lemon Drop," The spiral stairs started to move, "Up yeh go" He pushed Harry onto them.

A few moments later, Harry raised a throbbing hand to the door and knocked. "Come in"

He walked into the little changed office just as Dumbledore glanced up. "Ah, Mr. Potter, I wasn't expecting you so early, where is Mr. Black?"

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. His godfather was alive here, and his dad, his family. He quickly sat down and mentally berated himself. _He didn't ask me to sit, Potter! _But he acted as if nothing had happened and tried not to think about the last time he was in this office.

Dumbledore looked up at his guest more closely. James, not matter how many times that boy was in here, never sat down with the ease of a close friend.

"I apologize for my mistake, Mister…?"

"It's Nelson, Harry Nelson, sir."

"Mr. Nelson, what are you doing here?" His eyes twinkled. This boy looked like he'd been through a lot.

"I, um, Professor – there was an accident, in the Department of Mysteries, sir."

"You look a little young to be an Unspeakable." He had kept his eyes down, but now he looked up and Albus was immediately reminded of Ms. Evans…

_He was sneaking into the Department, surprised at the lack of security…He now was sitting down in an aisle, his bag over his shoulder and a time turner in his hand-_

A time turner.

Dumbledore's face became grave, "You are not of this time."

Harry rolled his eyes. Of course he had felt the old man glancing at his mind, but of all things to see, it had to be the one with the turner in his hand. And Dumbledore wasn't stupid. _First thing I need to do is learn Occlumency. No more of this people thinking they can go through my mind like a bloody newspaper!_

"No, I'm not. I'm from the future."

"And I'm guessing from your ease in my office, that you are here often. You bear a striking resemblance to James Potter, Mr. Nelson. A fact I'm sure you are aware of." He folded his hands on his desk. Harry took a deep breath, but didn't answer.

"His son?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "Your lack of response is answer enough. Your eyes are familiar. Maybe Ms. Evans would recognize them?" Harry almost clenched his fists before remembering the condition they were in.

"I see. I understand, you shouldn't tell me, no matter how great an old man's curiosity. You're a likeness to James is simply ironic, nothing more." Dumbledore paused and gave Harry a significant look, "If you stick to that story, I doubt any problems will arise. Your original House?"

"Gryffindor"

"Yes. There will be an extra bed in the dormitory, along with this year's supplies, robes, and clothes. The password is Stupify. I will notify your professors of your…_unique _situation, as it is the first. Go. Eat. Rest, I think you'll need it. Oh, and Mr. _Nelson_, I'll have my next guests take you to the Hospital Wing for those hands." Dumbledore gave a small smile and turned his twinkling eyes toward the door.

Harry nodded his thanks. He got up, walked to the door, and opened it.

He froze.

There stood a shocked James Potter, and a very confused Sirius Black.


	3. Chapter 2

**Don't own Harry Potter.**

**Thanks so much for your reviews!**

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"So what school did you say you transferred from?" James asked. Sirius and James were taking Harry to Gryffindor tower after the nurse had healed his hands.

"Brinstings. Its…in muggle London. It's not big, only the people who couldn't afford to go to Hogwarts go there." _That. Was pathetic. _

James and Sirius looked at each other. "How are you here now, if you couldn't, er, come here in first year?"

_Think, Harry, think! _"I was living out on my own. My parents died a…while back and I ran away from my Aunt's house. She's not fond of magic. I heard about this place, got a job, and saved up."

They didn't look convinced. "You _heard _about Hogwarts-"

"What House do you want to be in?" Sirius frowned, not happy at being interrupted.

Harry blinked.

"House? What do you mean? I thought this was a castle?"

"Ignore him. The rest of us do." Sirius scowled. "What? It's true. What kind of question is that? At least mine made sense."

"Mine made sense too!"

"No, it didn't. He just got here, he wouldn't know about Hogwarts' houses!"

"Oh, but he'd know about hearing about Hogwarts?!"

James looked at Sirius for a moment.

"What?"

"I said-"

"I play Quidditch." Harry threw that out there, hoping it would change the subject. Immediately, the two friends' faces lit up.

"What position?"

"Seek-" Harry was suddenly slammed up against the wall. Wand already in his hand, he looked up at the face of the man pinning him down to see…Snape?

"Potter! I know it was you!" Harry resisted the urge to laugh. Snape had Snivelus and greasy git stamped all over his skin and was clad in just his underwear.

"It's Nelson. Potter is behind-" Harry ducked the reducto Snape had thrown at him.

"Don't play with me, Potter. I've had enough of your silly games!" He snarled.

"What's going on? Sev-Snape, why are you in your underwear?" Lily walked in, looking very confused. Harry couldn't help but stare. The photographs didn't do her justice and he hastily had to look away when Lily turned her gaze toward him.

Snape's pallid checks reddened as he looked down. His lips pursed together. He looked up, hatred in his eyes.

Harry raised up his hands in innocence. "It wasn't me!" Snape's eyes looked behind Harry and he raised his wand.

But James and Sirius, with smirks on their faces, were no longer alone. Remus was behind them and so was Wormtail. Harry swallowed and concentrated on what was happening, not what happened in the past, or future, or whatever it was. Now was not the time to kill one of his Father's best friends.

Snape was beyond reason, he either didn't see that he was out numbered, or was too mad to care. But Harry knew what it was like to be bullied, especially for something that can't be helped. He stepped in front of Snape. He looked at his mother, disappointed. Why was she just sitting there?

He lowered Snape's wand as he stepped in between them. "What are you doing? He deserves what's coming."

"And that means public humiliation?" Harry pointed toward Snape's torso.

"He deserves it!" Sirius repeated. "Don't mess with something you know nothing about!"

Harry brought himself up, "I might not know anything about this, and even if he did deserve it, it doesn't justify four against one!"

"His fellow snakes are behind him." James pointed.

Harry looked behind him and Snape. Sure enough, there was a large group of Slytherins, but they made no effort to help Snape, even though they outnumbered the Marauders.

"It's not like they're rushing forward to help!"

"Goes to show you how much he's hated, even with his own slippery, evil-"

Harry interrupted Sirius, "Do you hate him, or the House he's in? Because this obviously goes deeper than to just make someone's life hell. It's not right. If you have a problem with that House, or better yet, someone in that House, take it up with them. Leave the innocent people alone."

"Innocent? Ha! That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard!" Sirius yelled, looking at James for backup before once more shouting at Harry, "He's a Death Eater! He's Evil!"

"Do you have any proof?!" Angry red sparks flew out of Harry's wand, "You can't just call someone that because you feel like it! It's not a name you can pass out like free candy!"

Even though Harry was aware that Snape was already a death eater by this time, they were still in the wrong. How had it come to this already? Harry knew that he did, in fact, have a hero complex. And if defending a man that he hated and a man who hated him back because of his own father didn't prove it, he didn't know what would. He didn't want his father and godfather to hate him. No matter how short of a time he was here for. This was his chance to get to know James and understand his godfather before he was broken. And Harry knew that defending Snape was a big blow to whatever chance he had had in becoming their friend.

"I just know it when I see one!" Sirius's hair fell back from his eyes. They were wild. He was desperately trying to make Harry understand that. But Harry knew better. He didn't even treat Malfoy like this. And Malfoy him.

"It's wrong! He's a person, just like the rest of us! No different."

But Sirius wasn't listening. "_Expelliarmus!"_

"_Protego!" _

Sirius's spell ricocheted back toward him. Sirius tried to duck, but wasn't fast enough. His wand, along with the rest of the Marauders' wands were thrown into the air.

"_Accio." _Harry said, summoning the wands to him.

Harry turned away from them before they could get back up. He waved his wand and the writings on Snape disappeared; his robes covering him again. "Go. It's over." Snape nodded, glancing at the defeated duo, and walked away.

Harry, not looking back because he couldn't, followed. Once he was a good distance away, he put down the wands where he knew the Marauders could see, and continued down the hall.

"Wait! Wait up! Please, I have to talk to you! Stop! Or at least slow down!" Harry froze. It was his mother.

Lily Evans stepped in front of him and put her hands on her knees. She was breathing hard. "Thank…you….for waiting….Sorry….trying to….catch….my breath." Harry conjured a glass of water.

"Here."

Lily grabbed the cup, but as soon as she looked up, the cup of water was forgotten. And she smiled.

"I've never met anyone besides my dad and Grandmother that have my eyes. Well, I guess they're yours too. It's weird seeing them in a different face." Her smile grew.

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat. "They were my mother's."

Lily smile faded, "Were?" She choked, "The war?"

Harry nodded, but couldn't answer. His mother looked away and then back again, not meeting his eyes. "That was a brave thing you did. Not many stand up to them."

Harry shrugged, "They're bullies. It wasn't right. That guy doesn't seem the nicest. But he didn't deserve to be out numbered either."

She nodded and twirled the cup in her hands. Harry wished he had something in his hands to keep him busy too. Maybe it would make this easier. It was harder talking to his mum than it was his dad. _Maybe it's because Sirius talked about him a lot. _It didn't look like Sirius would be talking to Harry about anything anytime soon though. Not after the incident with Snape.

"Lily! Lily! Hey! Did you see that guy? The one that looks like James, uh, I mean Potter? Wow! He was amazing!" A bubbly girl, who reminded him of Tonks, came running up to them.

Harry gasped. It was Alice Longbottom.

He was definitely getting more than he bargained for.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

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Alice gave him a funny look. Obviously she had heard the gasp. "You're the new guy?"

Harry ran his hand through his hair, "Yep."

Her expression changed immediately. She held up her hand, and before Harry could do the same, she grabbed his and shook it up and down. "I'm Alice." Her smile was contagious.

"I'm Harry."

"That was amazing what you did back there!" She burst out. She was nothing like Neville. She was fun, if not a bit too energetic. But Harry liked it. It was such a difference from what he was used to with people always jerking around at the slightest noise. A smile was hard to find anymore.

"So what classes are you taking?" Lily urged. Her face excited as the trio continued walking down the hall.

"Lily! You're not talking about classes _again, _are you? He just got here. That's the last thing he wants to hear! _Classes!" _Alice rolled her eyes.

Harry laughed and it felt so good that he laughed again, it feeling foreign to him. _Has it really been that long? _"I don't mind. Really. My favorite class is defense. It's my best class actually."

"Defense?" Lily wrinkled her nose. "Charms is the best. What can you do with defense?" Alice sighed and looked away.

Harry swallowed. She, his mother, needed to know this. He couldn't believe she thought of defense like that. He had to say something to change her mind, "My mum, she died because of the war. She thought the same about defense. She didn't know how to protect herself and it got her killed." He hated lying about his mother's death. It was so much more personal than that, so much more brave. She gave up her life to give him his.

"Oh." Lily didn't know what more to say to that. She just had to start putting more of an effort in that class, she decided.

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"Here we are guys. Lily! It's your favorite class!" Alice had her hand on her chest and a mocking look on her face. Harry glanced at the room and smiled. It was Transfiguration, his dad's favorite class. And obviously Lily's least.

McGonagall looked around at her students and noticed the James look-alike sitting next to Lily and Alice. It was obvious who his parents were.

"Put away your wands and take out your text books. Today we're taking notes-" the class groaned and McGonagall frowned, "-we're studying human transfiguration."

The students immediately had their eyes on her. She gave them a rare smile. "Mr. Nelson, since you are new, I have to check that you are advanced enough for this class. What is human transfiguration?"

"It means the transfiguration into an Animagus. A human willingly turning into an animal."

"Yes, Potter, do you have something to add?" Harry looked around and saw James' hand up with a smirk on his face.

"It means, Professor, transfiguring a human into any animal _or_ object." He sneered at Harry, disturbingly reminding him of Malfoy. _Great, just great. I'm nice to Snape, so now my dad's acting just like him._

Harry looked at Lily. She smiled sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

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"Nelson." Harry turned around to see Snape. Lily and Alice took one look at the sneering teen and left.

Harry wrinkled his brow, "What do you need?"

"I think we have a lot in common."

"How is that?" Harry replied calmly, not liking where this was going.

"You're quick with a wand. You show promise – talent. And I think there's a way to put that to good use." Snape said, an eager look on his face.

"Which is?" Harry tried his best to slow his heartbeat, sure that the teen next to him could hear it and put a sour look on his face.

Snape subconsciously rubbed his covered left arm, a move that didn't go unnoticed to Harry, and continued, not looking as confident as he had when he first started the conversation. "He's a man with a more…_forward _way of thinking. The Dark Lord could teach you great and powerful things and-"

Harry's face contorted in anger and he clenched his fists to prevent hitting Snape, "I defended you. That doesn't make us friends, and it certainly doesn't make me want to go join that psychotic bastard! I would die before taking on that mark that you so proudly hide beneath your sleeves! He's nothing more than a glorified murderer with a taste for nicknames. You'll live to regret following him, that I can promise you. So if that's all you want, _stay away from me!" _He hissed, turned, and walked away.

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Harry walked through the portrait, still fuming over Snape. _I can't believe the idiot actually thought I'd join Voldemort! Me! The Bloody Boy Who Lived! Ha! The greasy git, almost makes me want to join forces with the Marauders and hex him. Almost. _

"Hey Harry. So…What did he want?" Lily asked as he sat down in his favorite chair across from her. It looked like Lily had been building up the courage to ask him. He found that a bit odd.

"Nothing," Harry threw a dark look at Lily's chair leg and twirled his wand, round and round, "He wanted nothing, but to thank me. Why?" Lily didn't believe him.

"He wanted to….thank you?" She rolled her hands around together. "We were friends, once." Harry jerked his head up. _Snape and mum…? _

"I've never told anyone this, not even Alice. You just, you're different. You remind me a lot of my sister, before I started school. She was nice and I could tell her anything. She'd _help. _And I have to tell someone. I met him before Hogwarts, in our neighborhood park. He was watching us, I guess, I didn't think much of it then. I was doing magic in front of Petunia, my sister, and he came out. 'I know what you are. You're a witch.' I thought he was being mean…." And so Harry sat there while his mum explained everything. All the way up to when he called her Mudblood. She started crying and Harry, not knowing what to do, just patted her hand.

"I'm sorry," she sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, "He was my best friend, not Alice, or anyone else. And I don't know what to do. It was only a few months ago, and he's just happy and fine without me and I'm _not. _At all. Is there something wrong with that? With me?"

_Not at all. _Harry wanted to say, but he couldn't. This was Snape she was talking about. The man that hated him, the boy that hated her. _But if it was Hermione or Ron that did that to me…_

Lily looked up at him expectantly. He knew what she wanted to hear and he knew what he wanted to say, so he swallowed his pride. "There's nothing wrong with you, Lily. He was your friend and he betrayed you. You have a reason to be hurt. And if he was a good friend," Harry forced out the word, wincing at the thought of Snape being a _good friend,_ "Then of course you miss him. That's normal." She smiled a watery smile.

"Look at him. Sitting there. That should be _me_." James snarled. Remus rolled his eyes. Of course that's how he would look at it.

"Prongs, there isn't anything going on there. She's sad and he's doing something about it. He's just comforting her."

"Moony, if you're not going to help, don't say anything." Remus sighed. There was nothing wrong with the new kid. He had defended someone from an unfair fight. He was helping Lily without making her yell which was something that James couldn't do. And that upset him.

"You're right, Padfoot. We need to do something about him. He's probably a Death Eater, too. What other reason would he have to talk to Snivelus? He just got here. He can't know him, unless they met somewhere else."

"Time to bring out plan A." Sirius said, rubbing his hands together. "Any ideas?"

"We could look through his stuff. Wouldn't there be something evil in his trunk?" Peter asked.

Remus shook his head. They sounded crazy and he wanted nothing to do with ruining someone else's life. "I have an essay to finish. I'll be in the library."

"We don't need his ideas anyway." Sirius crossed his arms. "Operation 'Open Nelson's Trunk Immediately to Prove He's A Death Eater Or Else' is now running."

"Isn't that a little long, Padfoot?" James lifted an eyebrow, "What about 'Open Nelson's Trunk'?" Wormtail nodded in approval.

Sirius shook his head, "No, that's too obvious."

**. **


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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"_Harry?" He felt Hermione's hand on his shoulder. "Harry, you know it wasn't your fault, right?" He didn't answer. _

_She sniffed, "We're really worried about you. You never come down anymore. You hardly ever eat. It was an accident, it wasn't your fault." He wrapped his arms around his knees and continued to look out Ron's window. He ignored her. _

_She wrapped her arms around him, her chin on his shoulder. "Please, _please, _Harry, come out. Be with us. It'll help. Professor Lupin's down stairs." Still, he didn't answer._

_She sighed and got up. He heard her walk away. "I, I can't get him to come out Gin, I don't know what to do." Her voice broke. _

"_Let me talk to him, maybe I can help." Hermione sniffed again._

"_I don't think that's a good idea…" _

"_You don't think?" Ginny raised her voice._

"_Shh, He'll hear you." Hermione urged._

"_He's not a child, Hermione, so stop acting like it. It's my turn to help him, he's my friend, too. And Ron wants to talk to you. Maybe he'll finally get his head out of his arse and ask you out."_

"_But-"_

"_Move!"_

"_Harry," She didn't touch him. She thought that wasn't the best approach. She didn't like people touching her, even just a tap, after the incident in her first year. "Listen Harry, He didn't go save you for you to just give up. He saved you so you could live. Not sit around and mope all day." She noticed his nails dig into his legs, his hands were turning white. Even if it was anger, it was more of an response then Ron and Hermione had gotten in almost two weeks._

"_I killed him." He whispered, as if not realizing that she was there. "I _killed _him. Don't you see, Gin? I'm the reason he died, the reason he's gone."_

"_Harry, look at me." But he didn't. He just looked out the window, willing it to have an answer. _

"_Harry, Harry?" _

"_Harry, Harry please-_

"Harry, Harry, wake up! We're going to be late for dinner. Harry?"

He blinked. He had just been having that dream again, that memory, when Lily started shaking his shoulder.

"Harry-"

"I'm up." He said gently, waving her off.

She smiled. "Wow, I thought we lost you there for a second."

He laughed, "No, I'm still here, sorry to disappoint."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Haha, very funny. Alice! He's up!"

Alice hopped over. "It's a good thing you don't snore because you were really out of it and I don't know how we'd get you to shut up." She laughed, watching Harry's sleepy face scowl.

"Don't listen to her. So, ready for dinner?" Harry nodded.

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Sirius scouted the Common Room with his binoculars. "It's clear," he whispered, "Operation 'Open Nelson's Trunk Immediately To Prove He's A Death Eater Or Else' is ready to start."

"Padfoot, what are those giant tubes you're holding up to your face supposed to be doing?" James asked, eying the 'tubes' with curiosity.

Sirius whined, looking rather annoyed, and said, "For someone who wants to date a muggleborn, you don't know the first thing about them. These," he gestured at the binoculars, waving them in James' face, "Are bloody brilliant, but you're just going to have to figure out what they do when we're not doing something this urgent. By yourself."

James look peeved, "You could've just told me, instead of wasting time insulting –"

"Guys," Peter interrupted from his spot behind the Portrait door, "We don't have time for this. I have the 'needed' supplies. Let's do this already."

The three of them stepped through the portrait. Remus had refused to be a part of this. James winced as he remembered how angry Moony had been when they told him their plan.

"_This is wrong, James, and you know it! I expected Sirius to come up with something like this, but I was hoping you would change his mind, not encourage it! I refuse, REFUSE, to be a part of any of this!" Remus had yelled as he angrily stomped away from his friends. _

James shook his head to clear his mind from the memory and focused on the task at hand. They walked carefully up the stairs, stopping every few steps to look around, making sure they didn't get caught. Apparently, they had forgotten that they shared a dorm with 'Nelson'.

"Ah ha, his trunk!" Sirius said gleefully, as if he had never seen it before.

He reached his hand out to open it. "Uh, Padfoot? Don't you think we should check to see if he put any wards on it?" Peter said, looking hesitant.

"No. I doubt he's smart enough to think of that. Besides, who wards their trunk?" His hand was just about there.

"Padfoot, really, we should check-"

A sudden, high pitched hissing filled the room and blisters broke out along Sirius's skin.

"TURN IT OFF!" James and Peter had their hands over their ears and were as far away from the trunk as possible, trying to get away from the horrible hissing.

"_SILENCIO!" _

"_REDUCTO!"_

"_PROTEGO!_

"_EXPELLIARMUS!"_

Sirius was desperately trying to get the trunk to shut up, but it wasn't working, And his blisters were starting to ooze…

"You've really done it this time, Sirius! How are we going to explain breaking into someone's trunk?" James shouted angrily, cursing his luck.

"Shut up! My hands! My arms! It hurts!" Sirius whimpered, and then he moved his swollen hands to his face, feeling the oozing lumps on his cheeks, and screamed, "Not my face! Anything but my beautiful face!"

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"We were all trying to get class started, and you know, it was going well for once, and then in comes Lily, with bright, pink hair, and she was screaming out Potter's name like bloody murder, and it all went downhill from there. Lily knows the story better than I do." Alice smiled mischievously at Lily.

She rolled her eyes, "That's the last story he wants to hear."

Harry laughed. Of course he wanted to hear a good story about his mum and dad. Even if it wasn't their best moments.

Frank, who had joined them earlier, had his arm around Alice, and looked like he wanted to hear it again.

"Fine. I'll finish telling it, then. She had her wand in her hand before he did and - Lily, are you ok?"

Harry turned toward Lily. She was frowning. "Do you hear that?"

Alice stopped and listened, as did the rest of them. "Hear what?"

"That noise. It's – it's getting louder!"

And then they heard it. A high pitched hissing growing louder and louder. The Great Hall fell silent, listening. But Harry understood what the hissing was.

"_Intruders! Thieves! Stay out of my master's trunk! INTRUDERS! THIEVES!"_

Harry got up and ran toward Gryffindor tower.

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"Make it stop. _Please make it stop." _Wormtail whimpered.

Sirius was moaning in a corner over his blistered hands and face.

"WHY WERE YOU LOOKING THROUGH MY STUFF?!" Nelson had slammed the door open. James might've imagined it, but he could've sworn Nelson's eyes had burned red for a moment.

Harry waved his hand and the hissing stopped. Sirius's blisters disappeared. And the Marauders were shocked. _Wandless Magic…_

"I knew you were up to something! I knew there was a reason Remus wasn't with you, why he has been avoiding you! But I listened to Lily like a good little boy. Now you're going to tell me. _Why were you looking through my stuff?!" _He hissed. The Marauders looked at each other and silently agreed that this was not someone to mess with. Not that they were going to admit to it, of course.

"It's none of your business." Sirius said haughtily.

"None of my business? NONE OF MY BUSINE-"

"What's going on here, Mr. Potter?" Harry knew it was Dumbledore who asked, and he knew that Dumbledore was talking to both of the Potters in the room. He turned around and looked into the very serious, twinkle free blue eyes.

'Oh _shit.'_

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**Thanks for the reviews!**


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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"Sit down, all of you." Dumbledore said, pointing to the chairs he had just conjured up. The twinkle in his eyes were gone, and he was very serious.

Potter, Black, and Pettigrew hastily sat down, but Harry held back and stayed standing by the door. "Mr. Nelson, when I said all of you, I was not excluding you." He didn't move.

"I'd prefer, Professor, to remain standing." Harry was careful not to meet Dumbledore's eyes.

Dumbledore sighed, "Do as you wish."

"Usually your antics do not bother me, but now I must know. Were you or were you not looking through Mr. Nelson's things?"

James gulped, "Um, Professor-" Dumbledore's eye's narrowed. James looked down guiltily.

"Yes, Professor." He said quietly.

"Care to explain why?"

"We just wanted to prank him." Sirius offered.

Dumbledore sighed again, "Very well. You may go now. Mr. Nelson, feel free to sit down." Harry knew him well enough to know it wasn't an invitation.

"Mr. Nelson," Dumbledore clasped his hands together and placed them on his desk. "Do you _know _why I invited you to stay behind?"

Invited? _Invited?! _He was quickly growing angry. Not only had the old man let them go, but he had also asked him, no _told _him to sit down and be interrogated. No matter how the headmaster chose to word it, it was what it was.

"No." Harry answered through clenched teeth. But he had an idea.

"Lemon drop?"

"No thanks." Harry bit out icily. He had suspected a calming draught might be laced in those, but that didn't stop Dumbledore from quickly popping one in his own mouth.

"Mr. Potter," Harry jerked his head up, "I'm going straight to the point-" Harry rolled his eyes. What? No riddles today?

"Please pay attention. It's not asking much. I am not upset that you warded your trunk, quite the opposite. You, of all people, have reason to do so. It is how you went about it that I have reason to question your behavior. It means several things, Mr. Potter, that I am sure you are not aware of."

"Since we're going straight to the point, yes, I'm a Parselmouth, if that's where you were headed. Just wanted to make sure you knew." He said seriously.

Dumbledore watched Harry silently for a few moments before replying. "Do you know what that means? Do you understand what position this places me in? Or even you? To be known as a Parselmouth means to be known as evil. The only other known and alive one is Lord Voldemort himself." He unfolded his hands and took another lemon drop. He noticed that Harry didn't flinch at the name.

Harry, shocked that Dumbledore, The Giver of Hope, and second chances was accusing him of being evil.

"To be a known Parselmouth? Who said anyone has to know?"

Dumbledore eyed him suspiciously, "The entire student body heard the hissing-"

"None of them knew what it was from, _sir. _Just that I got up to find out what it was."

"The Marauders-"

"Won't be worried about that. They're still trying to get past the wards on my trunk, not what the wards actually _are._"

"Is Voldemort alive in your time, Mr. Potter?"

Harry leaned back in his chair and thought for a moment.

"I'm a Parselmouth because Voldemort is a Parselmouth."

Dumbledore nodded. The boy apparently wasn't afraid of saying the name either. "You've given me much to think about, Mr. Potter. You may leave now."

Harry rose quickly, wanting to get out of the suddenly cramped office. But he stopped, put his hand on the Headmaster's desk, and waited until Dumbledore looked up.

"I'm not evil. Though, with all that has happened to me, I might as well be." He whispered before he rushed out the door.

An hour later and Harry found himself in the library, actually sitting at one of the desks with a large stack of defense books beside him. _Hermione would be so proud of me, _He thought bitterly. Meeting Dumbledore had somehow unsettled him.

Harry opened the next book on the pile. _'Advanced Defense for Advanced Learners'. _It had looked promising, but as Harry leafed through it, he found it useless and slammed it shut.

He ran a hand through his messy hair, no doubt making it worse. What he was looking for, he wasn't sure of. But being with Dumbledore in that office again and him being so serious, reminded Harry of the prophesy. How was he supposed to defeat Voldemort the way he was right now? He was fast, but not fast enough. He knew many spells, but was advanced only to his age group. He had to start somewhere and the library wasn't it. He decided on the Room of Requirement, but now wasn't the time. He couldn't chance being seen and he didn't have the Map with him right now to know he wasn't being followed.

"Harry?" Lily interrupted his thoughts and gave him a worried smile, "Didn't get into too much trouble, did you? You didn't do anything wrong."

He looked up at her, into those same green eyes. "Nope. Got off clean."

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Harry stood in the dorm he shared with his father. James's copy of the Marauder's Map in his hands. He realized earlier that it would show his name, his real name. He had to do something with it. James couldn't find it. Harry decided that it was going to come with him to The Room of Requirement and was going to stay there, at least until he went back. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. It was getting harder, he realized, to keep his secret a secret.

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"Harry! Over here!" Alice waved at him and pointed to the empty spot beside her.

"So, how were classes?" Harry said as he sat down. Alice looked like she was going to say something, but was cut off by an enthusiastic Lily.

"Besides Transfiguration, everything was fine. Even History of Magic was interesting." Alice looked horrified and Frank started taking bigger bites and eating faster. Lily's face fell.

"I don't understand why you don't like that class." Harry smiled. She would love Hermione. But then his heart fell as he realized she would never meet her son's best friend.

His appetite suddenly left him. "I have to finish some homework." He mumbled.

Lily frowned, "Not you too? I thought you were done with it, anyway."

Harry forced a pleasant look on his face. "You interrupted me, remember?"

The hopeful look on Lily's face fell, "Well, Alright then. Don't overwork yourself, Harry."

As Harry got up and started to walk away. He couldn't help but be amused when he heard Alice's disbelieving voice, "Lily Evans, did you really just encourage someone _not _to do their homework?"

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Hours later, after avoiding Lily very well and not being seen, Harry listened to sounds in his dorm. Wormtail was snoring loudly, and Harry wondered how the rest of them slept through it. He had put a silencing charm on his bed the first day. James and Sirius, their curtains open, were fast asleep. Remus, Harry decided, would be more difficult. No matter how asleep he was, the full moon was only days away, and his hearing would be exceptional.

He had gone to sleep with his Invisibility cloak under his blanket and both maps tucked inside his pocket. He wrapped the cloak around himself and silently made his way through the room to the door. He didn't notice the creak the floor boards made as he walked by.

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Remus woke up. He thought he had heard something. Or someone. It sounded like someone was sneaking out, but his friends, even though they weren't on the best of terms right now, would've woken him to at least let him in on whatever they were doing. But when he looked over at James and Sirius's beds, he found them occupied and Peter's snoring made it obvious that he was there, too. So that left one person. Remus quietly made his way to James trunk, took out his special cloak, and disappeared.

He made his way out of the portrait hole and followed the faint sounding footsteps that had to be Nelson's. Up and up he went, getting slowly closer to Nelson, but staying a reasonable distance away. Remus realized they had made it to the seventh floor. Nelson rounded the corner and Remus slowed down, not knowing if Nelson had stopped on the other side. But as he stuck his head out, he saw that Nelson was nowhere to be found, around the corner or not. A little frustrated, for hardly anyone could sneak past the werewolf, and confused, Remus headed back to his dorm for a few more hours of sleep.

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Harry glanced at his version of the map - the older, yellowed version - and stood outside the portrait hole. Once he saw that no one was on the Seventh floor and that there was hardly anyone on patrol, he took his cloak off and shoved it inside his robes.

Not once did he realize someone was following him.

_I need a place to learn defense where no one can follow…_ By the third time Harry passed, there was a large door in the middle of the hallway.

The room was much the same as it was during the DA, except there were more books and dummies lined the wall. _So it's going to be a practical lesson. _

Harry picked up a random book, titled _The Darker Side of Defense_, and started reading. _The Shattering Curse was originally made for removing obstacle; caved in walls, buildings, ect. Now, it is used in combat. This curse doesn't kill your opponent, but severely damages their bones, shatters them. The body doesn't take this lightly; it starts to swell and becomes a prison to itself…_

The curse sounded terrible, but familiar. He had heard of a less devastating version. But it was a good curse, and would come in handy if he ever needed it. And knowing his luck, it'd be better to know it. Harry wasn't concerned that the spell was darker than what was approved for a student to learn. At this point, he could care less. Light or Dark, a spell was a spell and both could do a lot of damage. If it defended him and it wasn't an Unforgivable, he was going to use it. He wasn't changing his mind.

Harry stood and immediately, so did one of the dummies. The dummy came out to the middle of the room and bowed. Harry did the same. The dummy rose its' wand arm, but before it could do anything, Harry shot out with the new curse he learned. But the dummy was fast, too, intent on giving him a good lesson. It ducked and threw the disarming spell at him. Or at least that's what Harry thought it was. He hadn't heard any incantation and he quickly learned that the dummy wasn't giving him that advantage. For that, Harry was grateful.

At two, Harry snuck back into his dorm, not noticing the fully alert werewolf on the bed beside his. He kept the cloak under his sheets, just in case.

He would go back tomorrow.

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**As always, thanks for the reviews!**


	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

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"Lily?" Lily had been sitting in Harry's favorite chair, not that she knew of course, by a blazing fire.

She looked up, "Mmm, Harry what is it?" Her eyes kept glancing back at the book in her lap. Harry's lip twitched upwards.

"I was wondering if you had a spare notebook I could, er-borrow, permanently?"

She looked confused, "A notebook?" Harry nodded. Lily glanced behind him, looking at James. "Are you joking?"

"No."

"What's wrong with parchment?" Harry looked incredulously at her.

"It's just a notebook, Lily. You're the only person I've seen with one. I would like to have one because it's easier to pack around then a roll of parchment."

She held up her hand, "Ok Harry." Lily looked through her bag and handed him a black notebook.

"Don't do anything stupid with it." She said curiously.

_What the hell could I do with a notebook? _

"Me? _Never!" _He gave her his best innocent look.

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"I told you to check the wards, Padfoot." James said, starting up the argument that seemed to last for days. "I told you he'd have it protected but _noooo-_"

"I get it, Prongs, we'll-" James glared at him, "I mean, I'll be more careful next time."

"Wait, _next time?!_"

"Don't act so surprised, Moony. It's the only reasonable thing to do."

Remus shook his head, "Reasonable? _Reasonable?!" _He hissed, "How could you be so _stupid? _To do it once, but to do it _again-_"

"It's what needs to be done." Sirius said firmly.

"Let it go, Sirius. Getting caught a second time will get you nowhere."

"But we won't." He defended himself.

"Yeah. We've been watching it. See what the trunk does when we get close to it, away from it, inches near it. We're paying attention this time." Wormtail added.

Remus rubbed his temples, "But have you gotten any closer to breaking what's protecting the trunk without actually setting off the extremely loud, obvious alarm?"

Sirius looked at him blankly, "Alarm?" He asked weakly.

"Padfoot! URGH! How could you have forgotten about the loud hissing?!" Sirius clearly didn't understand why this was so bad, so Remus tried again, "Remember? The large boils on your face?" Sirius paled and quickly ran a hand over his face, shuddering.

Remus rolled his eyes. How self-centered his friend could be sometimes….

"Relax, Moony, we're going to go over it a few more days before we actually do anything. Promise."

"Prongs? _James? _Are you actually going to do this?"

"Huh? Oh, Yeah. Best friends help each other." He looked pointedly at Remus.

He ignored James's comment, "You're going to regret this."

"Why are you so against this? We're trying to make Hogwarts safer." Wormtail asked.

Remus clenched his jaw, "No, you're trying to bring attention to yourselves and ruin someone's life in the process." He swiftly got up, "And if nothing else I tell you will change your mind, remember how you were babbling the night of the incident about how scary Nelson is and that he's not a person to mess with? What happened to being scared?"

"We were never scared, Moony Bear. We're Marauders. We're Gryffindors. Brave until the very end." Sirius replied, his chest puffed up in pride and a grin on his face. He also knew that nick name would irritated the werewolf. Remus shook his head in disbelief and left before he did something stupid like hitting his friend upside the head. On his way out, he heard Sirius saying something that sounded like 'Stop looking at your Lily Flower and pay attention.' Remus couldn't help but smile.

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_The Flesh Eating Curse was originally used for medical reasons. It was used especially during the 1500's when healers were just delving into a person's magical core and how it was connected to the healing process._

_Now, it is used as a torture method because past a certain extent, the damage is permanent and the person subjected to the curse would die a slow and extremely painful death…_

_That's pleasant_. Harry winced and closed the same book he had read out of yesterday.

Harry looked at the moving picture again. The motion of the wand needed for the spell was simple; a violent jab forward and a quick flick to the right. It was easy, he admitted to himself. He still didn't think anyone deserved it, though. But as Harry closed his eyes, he thought back to last year when Bellatrix held Neville under the Cruciatus with an evil glint in her eye-and then later as Sirius fell through the veil….

Maybe some people, he decided, deserved it without question.

The book hadn't described what the curse actually did to someone, just that it ate the skin. Pretty self-explanatory.

He got up wondering how one of these dummies could possibly show the effects of the curse. One dummy moved forward just like last night, bowed, and shuddered. It looked like it was shivering, its' outline fuzzy and out of focus. It started to change, to Harry's horror, into a copy of a human. The only difference was its' empty face. No nose, or mouth, or eyes….And it somehow made the situation worse, so much worse.

_Violent jab forward and a quick flick to the right. _At first, nothing happened and Harry thought it hadn't worked.

But then the dummy froze, its wand falling from limp fingers. He didn't understand, nothing was happening…

He watched as his 'opponent' brought its' pale and shaking hands up against its chest, cradling them and then stretched them out in front of itself.

Harry looked closer to the hands and regretted it, wanting to look away fiercely.

Slowly, the finger tips turned black, and then the dark color crawled up the hands, wrists, and arms. He looked down again and saw that the same thing was happening to the dummy's feet. Then came the clicking noise and it took only a moment for Harry to realize it was the sound of _cracking. _He glanced back up at the hands, and saw that the black, dead skin was chipping and falling away in thick, crispy flakes. As the flakes fell away, the muscle and in some places, bone was bright, livid, and raw. The black spread higher and higher until it had reached the expressionless face.

And then, the face became _real. _Like a combination of everyone he knew and he had to look away, knew he had to, but he just _couldn't. _The familiar, yet strange face, crimpled and twisted and burned like it was lit by a black fire. It spread, all over the dummy's face. The skin chipped, and fell just like the rest of its body. And nothing was left on the face except bone and muscle. Nothing except the mouth.

And just before the mouth fell away, too, it opened, and let out an inhuman scream. Harry recognized it immediately.

It was the dying scream of his mother.

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'_Where is he?' _Lily asked herself for the millionth time that day. _'He's missed breakfast and now lunch, too…'_

Alice turned to look at her and when she saw that Lily's eyes were towards the Great Hall's open doors, she gave her a worried smile. Alice reached over and squeezed her best friend's hand. "Don't worry. He'll show."

"He'd better." She responded half heartily.

It had nearly been a day since the last time she'd seen him, right before he left with her notebook. It was frustrating. Sometimes she wondered if he was, even distantly, related to Potter. This was definitely something _he_ would.

She was worried and she could tell, no matter how hard Alice tried to hide it, that her friend was, too.

Someone moved at the door and Lily quickly looked up. Her heart fell to her toes when she realized it was just Remus. He smiled at her and took the seat in front of her.

"Hello, Lily." Remus said pleasantly, "Alice. How are you too today?" Lily looked at him for a while. He didn't usually talk this much outside the Marauders. She had a feeling the 'amazing' four friends were having some trouble in paradise. She sighed when she realized it was because of Harry.

"Fine-"

"-Just _great." _They both mumbled sarcastically.

"Are you worried about Nelson? Is he actually missing?" Lily turned to glare at him. He wasn't welcomed to the forbidden conversation. "I didn't mean anything by it," Remus rushed, "Just that I noticed - listen, he's… maybe he shouldn't - maybe you shouldn't be around him. That's all I meant."

Her glare, if possible, turned even icier and Alice answered before Lily could. "We appreciate your concern-"she glanced at Lily when she felt her friend's glare turn towards her and she quickly continued. "But Harry isn't like that, at all, actually. And there isn't anything to worry about."

Remus shook his head back and forth slowly. "There's something up with him. He's hiding _something, _something _big. _I was just warning you-"

"_The hell you were!" _Lily spat. "If you're here on behalf of your little _leader, _you can tell him to shove it and leave you the bloody hell out of it! He has a problem, he can come here himself!"

"Lily, please-" Alice was violently shaking her head, trying to silently tell Remus to be quiet.

"_Leave!" _She snarled.

Hurt flashed in Remus's eyes, but he quickly hid it, got up, and walked away, his shoulders slightly slumped.

Alice looked accusingly at her. _"What?" _

"Lily, how could you?"

"I was defending our friend!"

"That wasn't Potter, Lily! That was our _friend. _Remus, remember him? He was warning us, like any _good friend would do! _He didn't mean anything by it. I can't believe you!"

"I didn't do anything."

"It was unnecessary. It was _mean_."

"Alice-"

"No, I understand that you were defending someone who means a lot to you, but in case you haven't noticed, there's subjects he purposely avoids, like talking about his family or his past, or relatively anything about him. Remus was probably just putting all that together. And he was worried. Nothing more to it. He hasn't talked to _James _in a while, Lily. How could they have planned this?"

"It was a set up!"

Alice shook her head and looked down. "I have to go." And she walked away.

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Harry blinked.

He opened his eyes and looked around.

Everything was blurry.

He felt around for his glasses and shoved them roughly onto his nose. There was a fog over his brain, and somewhere his mind registered that it was a defense mechanism of some sort. His body was trying, useless as it was; to defend him from something. What was it?

He slowly got up, pushing his feet awkwardly under his body, supporting his weight. His hand ran over his face as he took in his surroundings. He was in the Room of Requirement.

_How did I get here? _

Harry tried to think back to yesterday. What had happened here? The fact that the Room was completely clean didn't help his mission. He reached for his wand, it had somehow ended up a few feet away from where he had fallen. Again, he wondered what had happened. His heart began to pound faster and his breathing came more quickly. His head started whirling and, for a second, he was afraid he would fall again.

And then everything came back. The face. And the screaming….

Harry braced himself for the fall, but it never came. He looked at his hand, the one that was gripping the table that had suddenly appeared. And he wondered how his hand had gotten there without him telling him it to do so.

Something else had appeared on the table, too. He looked curiously at his notebook, the one his mother had given him, and a plan started spinning around in his head. It was impossible, what he was thinking, it couldn't happen. There was no way. But, like everything else, he had to try.

A new command entered his head and the Room automatically changed to meet his request. A decent sized library appeared before him, and he immediately pulled out a book and skimmed through it. He did so with the next few hundred books, each time looking less thoroughly through then the last.

It had to have been the four hundredth book he had looked through before he finally found what he was looking for. _The Connection Spell. _His strained smile came out more like a grimace.

He grabbed the note book.

"_Copia!_" An exact copy appeared. And then another so that Harry now had the same three black note books.

He waved his wand over two of them and whispered, "_Concero!_"

A purple glow covered them.

He waved his wand one more time and one of the notebooks disappeared.

Harry took a deep breath and grabbed a quill,

'_Hello?'_

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**1995**

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"Ron? Ron. _Ronald!" _

"What?" The red head asked annoyed. When were they all going to leave him alone?

"Are you going to help look for him or not?"

Ron looked up at Hermione. "No, I'm not." He replied calmly. "And I don't want to."

She frowned for a second, and then her face grew angry, "And why not?"

"Because if Harry wanted to be found, he would already be here. He _left _because he _wanted _to."

"Ron," She continued lamely, "He could be in trouble."

"Honestly, Hermione, He's Harry bloody Potter, if he really was 'missing', don't you think someone would've found him by now? Or some sort of clue as to what happened to him?"

"Exactly. It's odd, don't you see? He could've been bewitched or, or-"

Ron's ears were turning red. Why were they all denying the truth? "Why don't you accept it? He left a note. He said he was 'sorry'. End of story."

"How can you be so uncaring?"

"BECAUSE HE WANTED TO GO! HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE HERE ANYMORE!" He yelled. Hermione looked at him as if seeing him for the first time. She sighed, walked toward his bed, and sat down next to him.

"We have to _try. _Ron, we just can't give up. He wouldn't give up on us." She said weakly.

"Dumbledore said to give him time. He'll come around."

"I think you're ignoring the issue. You're acting as if he never left."

"It's easier that way." He said, closing his tired, blue eyes. He felt Hermione grab his hand and give it a tight squeeze.

"It doesn't make it right." She whispered, letting go of his hand to wrap her arms around him.

"It doesn't make it wrong, either."

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"Have you found anything, Remus?" He ran a tired hand over his face.

"I would've told you if we did, Molly."

She put her head in her hands. "You're right, I don't know what I was thinking." She mumbled. Remus put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Any luck?" Ginny asked as she walked into Grimauld's kitchen. She took in their expressions, "Yeah, I didn't think so."

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Thanks for the reviews! The future, or present time, won't exist for much longer, but for right now, Harry knowing what's going on in the future is extremely important to how he's going to change his parents' deaths.


	8. Chapter 7

I don't own Harry Potter.

**Thanks for the reviews!**

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**1995**

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"Hermione, do you hear that?" She pulled away from the hug she had given the red head to look at his face.

"Hear what?" She asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion. And then she heard it, a faint crackling noise.

"That." Ron said, knowing by the look on her face that she had heard it, too. Then a bright light flashed, illuminating the entire room with a loud _'pop!' _sound before it quickly disappeared into a black object that wasn't there before. Sitting innocently next to them on the bed.

"A notebook." Hermione said, looking at it suspiciously. "Ron, don't touch it!"

"Well, why not?"

"It could be cursed, that's why!" She slapped his hand away and waved her wand over the black notebook, whispering detection spells. "It looks clean." She said after a good ten minutes of checking, "But I'm still not sure this is a good idea."

"Which is why I'll be the one to open it." Ron determinedly snatched the object up and opened it. He looked at the first page disbelievingly. Shocked, he ran his hand over the single word written in the familiar messy scrawl of his best friend.

'_Ron?'_

"Hermione," He choked out, "look at this." And she did, looking just as disbelieving as the boy next to her before taking it from him.

"We can't trust this." She stated, taking both ends of the notebook and twisting them in the opposite directing, intending to rip it apart.

"Hermione, no! What if it is him?" He viciously tore the book out of her hand and sat on the bed. The brunet sat down beside him. After a few minutes, she asked, "Do you think it could be him? I mean, honestly?"

"We need to ask him something personal that only we know." Ron responded, sounding more sure then what he was.

Hermione nodded, "Right."

"Any ideas, Hermione?"

She sighed, "_Honestly_." Hermione snatched the quill and notebook out of his hands.

'_**Where's Headquarters?'**_

He looked at her incredulously, "Headquarters?"

"Yes Ron." She answered impatiently, "If it is who we think it is-"

"-You mean Harry-" Hermione ignored him.

"-Then he won't ask what 'headquarters' means and he'll answer immediately."

"Oh."

'_12 Grimauld Place.'_

They both took a few deep breaths before looking at each other. "It's him." She said unnecessarily.

"Yeah. I got that. So…What do we say now?"

'_**Where have you been? No, a better question is, where are you?!' **_

'…_in the past.'_

Ron started laughing before taking the quill and responding.

_**-Seriously, mate, where are you?- **_

'_I'm not kidding. Go ask Professor Lupin.'_

He looked up at Hermione and raised an eyebrow. "Do you think he's kidding?"

"I don't know." She said quietly.

"What does Professor Lupin have to do with all this?"

She reached for the quill.

'_**Harry, what year is it?'**_

"Hermione-" She shook her head and pointed at the paper where four numbers appeared.

'_1976.'_

"And that is how Lupin has something to do with this." Ron didn't look like he was keeping up.

"1976 is when Harry's parents and the Marauders were at Hogwarts."

He didn't have anything to say to that.

'_**Are you alright? I mean, with **_**that **_**particular little detail?'**_

'…_not really.'_

'_**I didn't think so.'**_

Ron signaled for the quill.

-_**How did you get there?-**_

'_I don't think you'll like the answer to that… So what's happening with you guys?'_

'_**Don't avoid the question, Harry. What did you do?'**_

'_What makes you think I did something?' _

Hermione smiled. She could picture him scowling.

'_**You always do something.'**_

*****1976*****

"I'm sorry, Alice." Lily had set herself on the chair opposite of her best friend.

"Listen, Lily, I don't think now's a good time." Lily's face fell.

"It's not that I don't want to talk to you," She rushed, "It's just that Frank's waiting for me." It was then that Lily noticed her friends special clothes and done up hair.

She pulled her hand through her hair and sighed. "Alright then, when you get back, I guess."

Alice nodded and walked off with Frank, no doubt to an abandoned broom closet where that perfect hair was bound to get a little messy.

She had realized that staying in the Common Room when her best friend wasn't talking to her, her other friend was missing, and what felt like everybody in the room was staring at her, made it impossible to be there. She had been walking around for what seemed like hours until she had ended up on the seventh floor.

The seventh floor was hardly ever used. No rooms were on it, no doors, not even a bathroom and it made her wonder what the floor was _really _used for.

She secretly liked the abandoned hallway, mostly because it held an odd, unique painting. Why a school, that held _children _and was supposed to be against violence held a painting composed of a troll beating a ballet teacher was beyond her. The work of art was menacing and repulsive, but at the same time, fascinating. She was almost looking forward to seeing it again.

But as Lily kept walking down the large hall, she couldn't hear the thump of troll's club hitting its unfortunate victim. In fact, she couldn't hear anything at all. It was completely silent, almost eerily so. She stopped at the place where she was sure the painting was supposed to be, but in its place stood a tall, polished door.

Lily's curiosity got the best of her. She grabbed the handle and quietly opened the large door.

Inside was room almost identical to the Common Room. And in the middle, a table, chair, and a messy haired teenager furiously writing caught her attention. She placed a silencing charm on her feet and slowly walked up behind him. He was definitely Harry. Potter didn't write like that.

'_I'm not kidding. Go ask Professor Lupin.'_

As far as she knew, Remus didn't have any other relatives, and definitely none that were Professors.

Her line of thought was interrupted as a sentence appeared on the paper. This time what was obviously a girl's handwriting.

'_**Harry, what year is it?'**_

_That's odd. _She thought to herself and watched as the green eyed boy in front of her paused before answering.

'_1976.'_

_Well of course it's 1976!_

Lily watched as what was obviously supposed to be a private conversation unfold in front of her eyes.

'_**And your parents, Harry, what are they like?'**_

Lily frowned. _Aren't his parents dead?_

'_My mum's great!'_

'_**That's wonderful! But your father…?'**_

She heard Harry sigh and he ran his hand through his hair. _Like Potter…_

'_He's alright…'_

-**-**_**Blimey Harry, you finally get to meet him and you think he's **_**alright?-**

'_I…it's hard to explain.'_

'_**Hard to explain? He likes you, right?'**_

'_No, actually he doesn't. I defended someone he doesn't like very much.'_

-_**Malfoy?-**_

Harry put his left hand on the back of his neck and answered with his right.

'_Snape actually.'_

_Snape…? _There was something screaming in the back of her mind, yelling at her to get something. But what was it?

'_**Oh Harry, I'm so sorry. I'm sure everything will work out.'**_

-_**Snape? Snape?! Bloody hell, Harry, why Snape of all people ?!-**_

'_You should've seen him, it was wrong and I couldn't just stand there!'_

A horrible, horrible feeling was crawling up her spine…

'_**You did the right thing.'**_

-_**Don't encourage hi,m Hermione!-**_

'_**I'm going to ignore him. So, you're talking to your mum? Is that going well?'**_

Harry let out a laugh.

'_She's great! And beautiful! She's all about school work, you'd love her Hermione.'_

'_**I'm sure I would. I wish we could get the chance to meet her, **_**them, **_**too, Harry, I really do.'**_

'_Yah. She's the most caring person I've ever met. I don't see her marrying him anytime soon, though. Kind of worried I won't be born.' _Harry let out a nervous chuckle.

'_**Give Lily a chance, Harry. She'll be Mrs. James Potter soon enough, you'll see.'**_

Lily gasped. She realized too late that she was standing awfully close to him.

He had heard.

She covered her mouth and clumsily reached for her wand, but he was faster. Before she knew what was happening, she had a wand pointed at her and the same emerald green eyes as hers were looking right at her, right _through _her.

"I'm sorry... mum." He said as he brought his wand up higher and reached for the right words.

"_Obliviate!"_

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Favorite pairing and why? Mine is Draco/Hermione. I never liked that her and Ron ended up together, I always felt like they were paired as a last thought because having them end up with other people, like Draco or someone else in Ron's case, would've taken too much plot development and focus from Harry so other pairings weren't really an option.

As always, **Thanks for the reviews!**


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Thanks so much for your awesome reviews, they inspire me

**ShadowBasilisk: **I agree with you with the past and future splitting to make a parallel universe. But since I'm not a time travel expert, I figured that Harry has to make a life altering decision to change the future, therefore creating a parallel universe. As Harry hasn't made the decision to keep his parents alive and not change anything, that split hasn't happened…yet. As for the notebook, there is a purpose, I promise you. And it's not to introduce Ron and Hermione into the story (especially since I'm not too fond of Ron), they'll have very little to do with it from now on and the notebooks won't be around for much longer. **But they do have a purpose. **Hope that explained my reasons for how the story is going.

**PoppiiD: **I never thought Dramione would work, either. Although I find it a happy alternative to Ron. What genuinely changed my mind about Dramione was the story We Learned the Sea by lukei1. It's beautifully written and really made me a fan of this ship. As far as your question for my story, that will be answered later on.

**Dogsby: **Yes, it is depressing. But Harry was desperate and admittedly not in the right state of mind. He did what he thought he had to do. Hope this chapter and the way things turned out with Lily makes you feel better about Harry

**Silver Tsukino: **That's an interesting ship. I've never read a story about them. Do you have any story suggestions?

-Last Chapter-

'_**Give Lily a chance, Harry. She'll be Mrs. James Potter soon enough, you'll see.'**_

_Lily gasped. She realized too late that she was standing awfully close to him._

_He had heard._

_She covered her mouth and clumsily reached for her wand, but he was faster. Before she knew what was happening, she had a wand pointed at her and the same emerald green eyes as hers were looking right at her, right _through_ her._

"_I'm sorry… mum." He said as he brought his wand up higher and reached for the right words._

"_Obliviate!"_

Lily dropped her wand, ducked, and looked above her in time to see the bright red light fly over her head. Now, maybe, she could reason with him. She heard something move beside her and saw Harry bringing up his wand a second time.

"_Stupify!"_

She jumped out of the way of that one, too. But even if his aim was off today, his mind was still partially in focus. The wall behind her was getting closer, as was Harry and his wand. His eyes, _my eyes, _Lily told herself now that she knew they really were hers, were glazed and far away. Even his voice sounded distant. He wasn't really thinking about what he was doing, or watching where he was going. And that, Lily thought, was what might save her. Not that she was in any real danger, of course, but her memories were, and _that _specific memory she wanted to keep. _He's my son…_

She suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder and it was pushing her toward the wall. The hard stone brushed against her back before she was pressed into it. But she wasn't scared, somehow, Harry would return and listen to her, but until then, she would have to improvise.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be, you won't remember a thing, I promise." His voice was hallow and it sounded as if it would break.

"That's what I'm worried about!" She yelled frantically.

He wasn't listening. He seemed to be struggling with his wand arm, trying to make it move up. His brow was furrowed and he wasn't looking at Lily anymore.

This was her chance.

She reached down, grasping for her wand, but the hand on her shoulder moved. Lily was shoved roughly sideways, away from Harry and now in shooting range of his wand.

She cursed. What was she going to do now? Run around, and miss the spells until he got tired? No. That would be ridiculous and it wouldn't work.

"Stay still!" He shouted. _Finally! Some emotion!_

"Harry, please, you don't want to do this."

He jerked and turned to face her. "_Accio wand!" _And her wand flew into his hands. He put it in his back pocket.

_Great, now I have to worry about two wands…_

The last thing Harry was expecting was Lily ramming into him. Muggle methods were not common in the Wizarding World, but he forgot she was muggle born. The impact was unexpected and Harry buckled under the sudden weight. Lily grabbed her wand before Harry's landing could break it. He seemed frozen, but Lily guessed he was shocked. She got up, thrust her hand out, and grabbed his wand, too.

"Now," She said, getting up and aiming both wands at the stunned boy lying in front of her, "Tell me _everything._"

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"So where do you think he is?" Sirius asked his fellow Marauders scattered around their dorm.

"Who?" Peter asked, looking confused.

"Nelson." James told him while looking through his trunk another time.

"Now's the time, he's not around."

James shook his head as his search became more serious. "No, it isn't. Sirius, think about it, we still haven't figured out the wards."

"When has that ever stopped us?"

"Just because I'm the one opening the trunk, Padfoot, doesn't mean we get to do whatever. I don't want those…whatever they were, all over my face." He shuddered.

"What are you looking for, Prongs?" Peter asked as he peered around James' shoulder.

"The Map. I swear I put it under the Invisibility Cloak." He rummaged around a little faster. "I swear…it was right _here!" _

"I don't see anything." Sirius said, looking bored

"Of course not! I just said that!"

"Alright. _Alright! _Hey, we can look for it later. You probably just left it at the Shrieking Shack."

"No, I didn't, I left it _right here!" _Sirius sighed and put his hands on his knees.

"Fine, Prongs. You left it right there, even though it's obviously _not there_." He said, shaking his head and letting his dark hair fall into his eyes.

James glared at him before hurling a pillow at the animagus' head.

"Mangy mutt." He muttered to himself before slamming his trunk lid closed.

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"Frank?" Alice asked.

"Yah?" They were sitting in an abandoned broom closet. A very cramped broom closet.

"What do you think of Harry?" She twirled a corner of her shirt in her hand.

"He's alright, I guess. He likes Quidditch." Alice rolled her eyes.

"Is that all you think about?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. And other things." He said suggestively. She quickly elbowed him.

"Why?" He asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders in apology.

"Because…Remus thinks he's up to something. And he's been gone for two days. And he doesn't talk about some things. And he doesn't have family. And he looks around corners before he walks. And…"Alice realized she wasn't making sense anymore.

"Remus knows what he's talking about." Frank told her, trying to make some sense of what she had said.

"Lily and I got in a fight over it today." She admitted quietly.

Frank nodded again, "I knew something more was up than Harry disappearing.

"She's really protective of him…"

"Who?"

"Lily. She's protective over Harry." She leaned against his arm.

"You know how Lily is with people. Remember how she was with Snape?"

"That was different."

"How?" He sounded confused, but it was too dark to see his expression.

"Well," She began slowly, "With Snape, it was like a best friend protective, but with Harry, it's like a _parent _- No… I mean yes! That's exactly what it is - parental." She shook her head. "Maybe I'm reading too much into this."

"Maybe. Now that you say it though, it does seem that way."

Alice nodded and looked up again before she remembered she wouldn't be able to see his face. "They're connected somehow."

"Did he ever say what happened to his parents?"

"Yes, they died in a car crash when he was little. Do you know what a car is, because I have no idea."

"Something muggle." He said, sounding positive. "James said he was raised by his Aunt, and then ran away…"

She sighed, relaxing into Frank and decided to give it a rest for a while, at least until morning.

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"Minerva, have you found him?"

"Not a sign, Albus." She didn't look like she normally did. Her glasses were askew, her tidy bun practically undone, and she had somehow lost her robe along the way. He would've laughed had the situation not been so serious.

"We must find him. He wouldn't of left." Dumbledore looked at Fawkes who sleeping on his post.

"Are you suggesting he was taken by force?" She looked outraged.

"No," He seemed to chew on the word for a while, "Just that he wouldn't leave voluntarily."

"They're the same thing, Albus!" She said, exasperated.

He took a deep breath and let it out, "It's imperative that we find him."

"I realize that!" Her wand was lying abandoned on Dumbledore's desk, but her hand was itching to grab it.

"He can't be far."

Her eyes narrowed, "What makes you so sure?"

"Fawkes isn't worried, until he is, I won't be either."

"So why did you cancel school today and send all the teachers looking for him?" She asked exasperated.

"Keeping up appearances, Minerva." He said, tugging his beard in thought. _He is in the castle. A secret room, perhaps?_

Her lips thinned, "Very well. Continue the search, then?"

Dumbledore nodded, "If you find him, tell him to come here immediately."

**-Present Time-**

"Why hasn't he responded?" Hermione said as she began pacing around Ron's room.

"He…could've gone to use the loo?" She scowled at him.

"Or not."

"Ron, it's been almost twenty minutes! Something must've happened. What if Voldemort go to him or, or something worse!"

Ron shook her gently, "You-Know-Who doesn't know he's alive or who he is and what's worse than him finding Harry?" He obviously thought this was a comforting thought. Hermione looked up with tear filled eyes, her lip trembled.

"But what if-"

Mrs. Weasley burst through the door, "Quick! Emergency Order meeting downstairs, now!"

The Order, considerably smaller than the last time it had gathered, sat around the table in the Burrow's cramped kitchen.

Someone was missing: Snape.

Dumbledore walked in and closed the door behind him. He did not sit down like he normally did, and the twinkle in his eyes were gone.

"I believe I know where Harry is."

Hermione and Ron gave each other a significant look.

"If any of you have any ideas, now would be the time to share them." He glanced at each person around the room, his gaze staying longer on the two teenagers.

He sighed, "Very well. This situation is very serious. Remus?"

The tired werewolf stood up from his spot beside Tonks. "1976, as most of you know, was my sixth year at Hogwarts." The room had suddenly gotten colder. He plowed on, "We got an exchange student, or so we thought. He was our age, shared our dorm, and my friends and I were convinced he was evil and out to kill us all." He laughed bitterly.

"The boy's name was Harry, Harry Nelson." Some of the people looked confused, and Remus gave them a reassuring smile, "Harry looked just like James except for his eyes and an interesting scar on his forehead. Sound familiar anyone?"

"Why haven't you mentioned this before?" Mundugus slurred.

"Dumbledore must've put a charm on all of us, including himself, because we haven't remembered anything until a few days ago, but we weren't sure what it was."

"Does Severus know, too?" Mrs. Weasley asked from behind Arthur.

"Yes, he does."

Molly nodded.

Remus sat back down and looked at Dumbledore.

Everyone nodded as they took in the seriousness of the situation. The Boy Who Lived in the past with his dead parents. They all knew he would be tempted to change what had happened on October 31st, 1981.

Dumbledore gave a nod as well, but it meant the meeting had come to a close.

"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, a word?"

_**-1976-**_

"Are you going to say anything?" It had been roughly an hour since Lily had pointed two wands at her _son. _She shuddered. He was _her age, _for goodness sake!

A bloody hour, and still, he had said nothing.

"Anything?" She tried to get him to look up, look at her, something! But he continued to look blankly at the wall in front of him.

The walls, the furniture, even the floor suddenly changed, and Lily jumped, startled. The room was now a small bedroom with bright orange, clashing colors and posters of some Quidditch team. There was a bed on one side and a cot on the other. A trunk at the end of the cot said 'HP'. She could guess whose that was.

She sighed and pulled gently at her dark, red hair. "It would be nice if we could talk." He turned his body away from her. The first movement since he had sat up at the beginning of what seemed to be a very, very long hour. "We don't even have to talk about _that._" He flinched. "Just _something, _Harry."

She sighed, knowing she wasn't going to get anything out of him just yet and slowly got up. He didn't even acknowledge her movement.

Lily walked to the mysterious trunk and opened it. She looked back towards him to see if he was upset with what she was doing, but instead, he was watching her.

She turned back to the 'trunk' and picked up the thing on top. It was a pile of school books tied together. _Nothing odd about that…_

The second object was a silvery cloak, and it took her a few seconds to realize it was an Invisibility Cloak. She set that aside for further examination later.

_A crinkled old paper? _She suspected it might have some reading charm on it. That, too, made it to the 'examine later pile'.

A shrunken broom. _Must get that from James…_Potter! _I meant Potter!_

Some quills and other odds and ends, and then a photo album.

She held it gently and braced herself for the first picture. Lily gasped and almost dropped the book before actually looking at the picture.

It was her. And Potter. And Harry. All tangled up together. It must've been one of Harry's first pictures. His bright green eyes matching hers exactly, happiness radiating from the three of them.

The next picture was just her and Potter. They were dancing and as she looked closer, she could see that it was raining.

The first half of the book was just her and James and a few of Harry. She didn't miss the fact that the only pictures of them together as a family were when Harry was a baby.

_My parents died in a car accident. _She remembered and shivered. But something in her heart told her that that was a lie and she felt her heart leap, thinking that he had lied about his parents being dead, too.

The next page she turned to had Harry, a tall, gangly redheaded boy, and a bushy haired girl. A lot were of them, looking different and older every time. She could especially see the small changes in Harry that had nothing to do with growing up. His eyes were more and more shadowed as the pictures progressed.

And one of the last pictures were of Harry, a whole bunch of redheads, including his friend, the bushy haired girl, a man with a gaunt face, another with sandy hair, and a girl with bright, pink hair.

She noticed the gaunt looking man and the sandy haired one looked oddly familiar.

The very last was of Harry and the black haired man. Lily could tell that Harry looked extremely happy here, as well as the stranger. His grey eyes looked brighter with a hint of mischief. His arm was around Harry's shoulders in a protective way and in Harry's hand, a present. This was the only picture with a caption underneath it. _Me and Sirius, Christmas 1995._

And he did look like Sirius. Not when he was by himself, like some of the pictures in the book, but whenever he was with Harry or the sandy haired man, _Remus…_Lily realized with a gasp, he was more like his past self. _I wonder what happened to them…_

She moved to put the book back in the trunk when a piece of paper slipped out of it. It was a newspaper article. The yellow colored paper symbolized the age of it and she instantly looked at the date. _November 1st, 1981._

There was the same picture as the first in the photo album on the front of the article.

_**He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Destroyed!**_

_Yesterday He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was destroyed by a one year old. The Potter's home in Godric's Hallow was viciously ripped apart, and Harry James Potter, (the one year old) was found from the wreckage and taken to his Aunt and Uncle's home. Unfortunately both his parents, Lily and James Potter, were found dead. They died a heroic death, protecting their precious infant son._

_Lily and James Potter were found dead_!…Dead, Dead. _DEAD_! Her mind screamed at her, repeating word after word and not letting her rest…Harry wasn't even two…

_I _die! She sniffed and looked up at Harry. There was something in his eyes: pity. Well she didn't want it. Lily felt the same about him, pity was radiating through her for the boy in front of her.

Harry moved. He got up, walked toward her, gently took the article from her hand and laid it beside her before wrapping a comforting arm around her.

She didn't know how long they stayed there, perfectly still, watching each other's silent tears fall.

It didn't matter.

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Harry Potter or Twilight? Mine is Harry Potter, it's well written and better thought out. The characters are more developed and I feel like even the characters that barely appeared in HP, like Mundugus, were better developed than most main Twilight characters

Thanks for the reviews!


	10. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Thanks for the reviews! Love them, please keep sending them.

**Dogsby**: That's a very good idea and it would turn out very interesting. But it would mess with my plan for the story lol. Have you written something like that?

**SuperHeroFanGurl**: How embarrassing that I didn't notice that, or even typed it. With all the proof reading I've done, I can't believe I missed that. Thanks so much for pointing that out!

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After a good amount of time and a hot cup of tea, Lily decided she'd better start with the questions. So she put her best foot forward, clasped her hands together, and started with her first.

"So you knew this whole time I was your mum…and you didn't say anything?"

Harry looked down guiltily, "What was I supposed to say? 'Hey Lily, I'm your future son!' You'd think I was crazy, probably have me locked up in St. Mungo's. Besides, I wanted to take this chance to finally get to know you." His last sentence came out in a whisper.

Lily didn't say anything at first. She seemed to be waiting for the right moment, and when she realized there wasn't one, she moved on.

"You can't tell me anything about _that _night, can you?"

He ran a hand through his hair and tried to unclench his jaw. He failed miserably.

"No." She had to strain to hear it.

Lily nodded. "I thought so."

"You're not even supposed to know." He laughed nervously, "But I figured someone would find out…I thought it would be Remus, though."

She nodded again. "The article…said that you were raised by your aunt and uncle. I wasn't aware Potter-" Harry winced, "-had any relatives." The last bit was rushed.

"He doesn't, or at least any that he had, died before I was born." He paused and Lily noticed he was suddenly frowning. She gave him a significant look and he reluctantly continued. "Your sister raised - brought me up - took me in -" It didn't matter how Harry put it, he was lying in some shape or form because his aunt hadn't done any of these things. She had simply put up with him.

"I lived with her and her family." He finished lamely.

"My _sister? _My sister _hates _anything magic. _Anything! _Why didn't you go to my parents? Or Potter's?"

Harry looked up with a pained expression and it dawned on her. Their parents hadn't made it, either.

She quickly looked away. It took her a little while to be able to breathe normally again.

"When?"

"I don't know." He whispered, "And even if I did, I wouldn't, couldn't tell you. _Please _understand."

She looked down and fumbled with her fingers, weaving them in and out of each other. Lily tried not to be mad at him, tried not to be upset. But for what it was worth, it was easier said than done. She felt like he was cheating her out of something, something important, and it made her feel like he somehow took part in her parents' murders. It was wrong, but anger was better than pain. So, so much better.

"Ron and Hermione, are they your friends?" It was an awkward attempt at a failed conversation, but she gave herself points for trying. Salvaging this was possible, right?

"Yah," A bright smile broke across his face. "Since my first year."

"So you've always gone to Hogwarts?" She pressed, genuinely curious now.

He looked at her before answering, "Yah."

One word answers weren't going to get them anywhere.

"Do you like it?"

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?" She couldn't help but compare herself to a reporter or a stranger. She sure sounded like one.

"Yah," He sighed and Lily wanted to kick him. "It's…hard sometimes, but not in a bookish sort of way. I wish, but my life just isn't that simple." And he decided that his mum had died long before his adventures had started, so what harm was there in telling her?

"I met Ron on the train, and Hermione, but Ron and I didn't really like her. All three of us got sorted into Gryffindor," He decided he wasn't going to tell her about his almost being sorting into Slytherin. "Ron and I, we were immediately best friends, and he was mean to Hermione. I wanted to do something, I really did, but he was admittedly my first friend and I -. Being me, being _the _Harry Potter, I never knew if people wanted me to be their real friend, or if I was just their ticket to fame." He said bitterly and then whispered, "He was my first real friend and I was afraid if I stood up for Hermione, I'd lose that friendship. How cowardly of me, how _Malfoy _of me."

Lily's heart broke at the thought of her son never having a real friend at the age of eleven. She reached over and squeezed his hand, smiling encouragingly for him to continue.

And he told her everything, or just about. He told her about their potions professor who hated him, (leaving out that his teacher was Snape), the troll and Hermione becoming an important part of his life. And even the mirror and what it showed. But when he got to the end, his mother started crying, for what reason, she wouldn't tell him, and he decided that his first year was enough, at least for today.

He smiled at that. His mother knew, and he was finally getting a chance to know her. To _really _know her without the friend rubbish.

She excused herself saying something about talking to Alice and that she wouldn't breathe a word about Harry.

Harry got his stuff and walked out as well. He was hungry, after all, he had been in that blasted room for over a day.

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Dumbledore, along with the rest of his staff, watched the students and talked in-between.

He sighed. One missing student had turned into two. And once again, school had been cancelled.

He noticed movement at the front door.

Lily Evans was desperately trying to set a smile on her face. It looked more like a grimace.

His eyes curiously followed her as she ignored James' ridiculous flirting and sat down beside her best friend, Alice.

Alice seemed to be yelling at her, though the words were lost to Albus, and Lily was talking back furiously.

And then, an immensely tired Harry Nelson walked in, much more composed than his fellow escapee.

He sat down on Lily's other side which unfortunately happened to be next to James. The Marauders stopped talking and all turned to stare at Harry.

Like a fluid movement of a single body, the Marauders got up and walked away, well, except for Remus. But Dumbledore knew when the four, or rather three this time, were planning something. And he figured it had something to do with Harry's trunk.

He sighed again and thought about the type of tea he would have before bed.

He was fairly sure a good sleeping draught would work just as well.

**(10 minutes earlier)**

"Where the _hell _have you been?!" Alice screeched as her friend sat down with a horribly fake smile on her face.

Lily blushed, though she didn't know why, "I've been in the library." She said shakily.

"Don't lie to me, Lily Evans! The staff has searched the school more than once. Don't make me ask again!"

She felt like her mother had caught her with her hand in the cookie jar.

_A plausible answer, Lily! _"Harry and I went to Hogsmeade. We were buying presents for Christmas."

Alice raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hogsmeade? We have a trip there two weeks before Christmas Break."

_Shoot. _"But you guys would be there."

Alice ignored her friend's pathetic excuse and decided to 'go with it'. "So…how did you get there?"

"A secret passage." She said mysteriously.

Alice rolled her eyes.

"Lily, I-"

"Hey Lily, Alice, Frank." Harry said, pointedly ignoring James on his left.

Lily sighed in relief. She was saved, or so she thought.

"Oh good, you're here. Care to tell me why you and Lily were at Hogsmeade?"

Harry looked confused and glanced at Lily who was waving her arms around in attempt to get him to agree.

He gave her an odd look, "Buying you a birthday present." Lily was frantically shaking her head and with her fingers, drawing a …triangle? No, a Christmas tree in the air.

"And Christmas shopping, of course." He said as sincerely as he could. He was supposed to be sorted into Slytherin, right? Time to bring out the cunning.

"What's the point of it, if everyone you were getting a present for knew about it? Totally pointless and it's no fun at all, no element of surprise that we Gryffindors are so well known for." He said, smiling roguishly and looking even more like his father next to him. It was a bad attempt at cunning but at last, Alice's face lit up, obviously believing him and lecturing him and Lily for not telling anyone about it.

The Marauders were looking at him suspiciously and when Harry turned to meet their gaze, they abruptly got up and left. Except Remus. Always kind, that one.

Harry briefly put his head in his hands, and for once, Lily understood why, now that she finally knew. Everyone else just thought he hated being hated.

"So what did you get me?" Alice's face looked remarkably like a two year old's and Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"If we told you, what would be the point of sneaking out, facing expulsion, and then marvelously hiding them from you?" He winked at her before grabbing a plate and piling a mountain of food on top of it.

Alice shared a look with Frank.

Lily was impressed that he could pull this off without any trouble and knew that if she opened her mouth to add to his excuse, she would ruin the effect completely. So she wisely kept it shut.

Harry was mildly shocked he hadn't been called to Dumbledore's office. He had a sneaky suspicion that he had been 'eavesdropping'.

Harry shrugged and climbed into his bed. Amazingly ignoring the Marauders ignoring him, closing his curtain, casting a silencing charm around his bed, and falling asleep almost immediately.

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Back in Transfiguration, the lately oddly acting Marauders sauntered in fashionably late, as usual and took their seats next to each other.

McGonagall tapped her foot menacingly. "Should I even ask?"

"Minnie!" Sirius said as he walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "We were simply getting you an early birthday present."

"Sirius Black, if you value your arm, you'll kindly remove it." She said calmly and Sirius quickly extracted his arm before he lost it. "This is the eighth week in row that you've been late. I only have one birthday, Mr. Black." She was quickly losing her patience.

Sirius nodded and presented her with a cute, fluffy, brightly stuffed kitty. "Happy eighth week in a row birthday!" He shouted as his fellow friends charmed mini fireworks to go off around the room.

Her lips thinned.

"I'll go sit down now, Professor."

Even as mad as he was at the Marauders, Harry couldn't help but laugh at the outraged look on McGonagall's face. She was trying to hide it, but if he looked close enough, he could see the corners of her mouth twitching up.

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Harry had stayed away from the room of requirement for a week, and so far, he had no desire to go back.

He was currently sitting in the Common Room, in his favorite chair by the fire, with Lily in the chair across from him. He had a Transfiguration book in his lap on top of his black notebook and a half filled scroll, his failed attempt at a decent essay.

He suddenly felt an odd sensation run through his legs. _What the-?_

And then he remembered he had charmed the note book to vibrate whenever Ron or Hermione wrote to him.

He very sneakily took it out, looked around, and opened it.

'_**Harry?'**_

'_Yah?'_

'_**Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to you…'**_

'_Oh.'_

'_**Hello, Harry. Lemon Drop?'**_

Harry laughed. Some things never change.

'_No thank you Professor.'_

'_**I thought not. **_

_**You need to be aware of some things that may**_** help **_**you. So I must ask you, Harry, do you know what a Horcrux is?'**_

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Lily sighed and looked around the common room. She had just gotten back from the library and was eager to talk to her best friend and even more, her son.

She smiled. She had a _son _and he was far better than anything she would've dreamed. Her smile grew as she thought about him for a moment. He was definitely more like her than his father. They were alike in nothing but their looks. And even she had admitted to herself that James Potter was handsome, his personality on the other hand…

Lily shook her head to clear it and glanced around the room again. A few people were finishing up some last minute homework, some were talking, but most were outside enjoying the last night's snowfall.

She frowned. James was by himself, lying on the couch. Where were the rest of his friends? She took a deep breath and walked over. What could she say? What was she _supposed _to say to the boy she would eventually marry and have a child with? But once she was right in front of him, she noticed the lightning bolt scar, her frown disappeared. She had mistaken Harry for James.

He looked so innocent in his sleep. Like this, he looked like James. He looked so much like his father, as many people had told him, but he didn't have the carefree persona James seemed to have. He was always on edge, ready to jump up and whip out his wand. His eyes were always guarded. And she wondered if he was like this with his friends and the people he considered family back home.

Lily grabbed a book from her bag, sat the bag down, and then sat down herself. She decided she was going to stay here until he woke up. After all, how many times had his mother, _herself_, sat beside him watching him dream? Not many. She couldn't have.

She opened _To Kill a Mockingbird _and waited for him to wake.

"Evans!" A familiar voice called her name and she mentally groaned.

"So," Potter said as he draped his arm around her shoulders, "How are you today, Lily Flower?"

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _For Harry….For Harry. _

And then he did the last thing she had expected. He _swept her off her feet _(literally) and into his arms, making room on the arm chair for him before setting her on his lap. She blushed a deep, deep red and gathered her voice for the loudest scream in Hogwarts history.

He panicked.

"No Evans – it's not like that! Please, I mean - Sirius told me it would work! Please don't be mad at me." He looked so cute, like a confused child asking forgiveness for something he wasn't even sure he did. And she was feeling a little bad for him, after all, he wasn't getting the point. He really shouldn't be listening to Sirius anymore.

"Evans, I _swear _- Lily," He stopped. He liked the sound of her name on his lips, the feel of it was like nothing else. Just Lily. It sounded wonderful and beautiful and, and-

"James," And _that _sounded even better. He heard the most beautiful woman in world, sitting _on his lap, _take a deep breath. "I'm not mad. It's not your fault you're not smart enough to _not _listen to Black."

His heart sank and it must've shown on his face.

"No! No, let me try this again?" As if she even had to ask to speak to him. He would take anything he could get if it meant hearing her voice… "I'm sorry, here you are being nice, and here I am being rude." Her emerald eyes ran over his face, taking him in. "Here's some advice. Act like yourself around me, not an arrogant prat." He winced, looking shameful, and she continued, bracing herself for what she was about to do, "If you do that, then I'd like us to go to Hogmeade together."

He jumped up, face lit up with joy, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, "You won't regret this, Lily Evans, I promise."

She smiled, "Don't let me."

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When Harry finally did wake, he sat up and saw an empty common room look back at him. He glanced at the clock. It was dinnertime.

He remembered snippets of some conversation from earlier that day. A smile graced his lips as he thought about his mum asking his dad to Hogsmeade. He didn't know if that's how it happened in the original timeline, but really, with the way he was headed, it didn't matter. This was the only timeline as far as he was concerned.

As far as his conversation with Dumbledore went, it hadn't gotten far as the notebook had mysteriously stopped working and spontaneously burst into flame. He figured it meant that what he was choosing to do was now irreversible and that the future he knew no longer existed. He felt a pang of loss at all the people he knew and loved. But he was comforted in the thought that if his plan worked, he would see them all again, just much happier.

What he had gotten out of it, though, was that he needed to look for some things called Horcruxes. He found out what they were and their connection to Voldemort. Dumbledore also gave him some ideas as to where and what some of them might be. He was very specific about looking for the House of Gaunt. So specific that Harry suspected he must've already found it.

"Harry!"

"Mmm?"

"James asked me to Hogsmeade!"

Harry raised an eyebrow.

"_He _asked _you_?"

"Well…no. I asked him. But that's not the point."

He noticed James looking over at them, paying close attention.

"_You _asked _Him_?"

She swatted his shoulder.

"You already asked that." She wined before saying, "You were awake, weren't you?" She accused.

Harry burst out laughing.

"That obvious?"

She frowned.

He looked at his mother, her cheeks were pink. "You're excited." He deadpanned.

"Gee, thanks for asking."

"It's not like I don't already know you are."

"Still, would it kill you to _ask?_" She whined, rolling her eyes

"I did."

"No, you didn't. You stated."

"Are all women this difficult?" His green eyes were alight with humor.

She huffed.

"You could've asked."

"But I already knew!" He protested, "What would be the point of asking?"

"It would be nice."

He threw her a look.

"If that's what you want, go tell Alice."

"Harry! I thought you would like to know…"

"Thank you, Lily. I'll try to remember asking next time."

"_If _there's a next time." She said ominously.

He rolled his eyes. "I'm still here, aren't I?" The people closest to the pair looked at them oddly.

"You're happy. I can tell." She said defiantly.

"Of course I'm happy; I just don't have to be jumping for joy about it. I'm a man. Men don't do that."

It was Lily's turn to roll her eyes.

"Really? Because I could've sworn James was jumping for joy after I asked him."

"Well," He started, much louder than necessary, looking the desperately trying to eavesdrop James in the eye, "Some of us are manlier than others."

She started laughing. "What?" He asked, looking back at her.

"That was incredibly immature."

"He deserved it." He angrily flicked his newspaper straighter in front of him.

"Honestly. How old are you?"

"Not old enough to stop getting back at other people. Especially when said people act like 5 year olds." He said bitterly.

"I thought you were above all that."

"I can't help it." He smirked. "It runs in the family."

She frowned and looked away.

"Indeed." She said, wondering if going out with Potter was worth all the trouble that seemed to follow him around.

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Sirius looked up as James burst through their dorm door, "Padfoot!"

"Yeah?" Sirius said calmly, wondering what all the fuss was about.

"Oh good, you're all here." He looked around their dorm. Not for the first time, he was happy Nelson wasn't here to ruin the 'moment'.

"Lily-"

"Whoa, since when do you call her, 'Lily'?" Sirius asked, looking extremely surprised.

"Doesn't it sound amazing?" His friend answered dreamily.

Sirius looked at the rest of the Marauders, thanking many things for his still remaining sanity.

"Um, sure, Prongs."

But his friend's tone didn't dampen his mood. "She asked me to Hogsmeade!"

Sirius started laughing and then stopped when he notice no one else was, especially James. "Seriously?"

James nodded enthusiastically.

"Congratulations, Prongs."

"Thanks, Moony." Sirius was sure that his friend's face was going to split in two from the size of his smile. He was shocked. He had finally gotten his girl. Or at least he was at the first step.

"Padfoot? Why aren't you jumping with me?" James asked with a slightly hurt tone.

He blinked. Why _wasn't _he jumping with him? He wasn't jealous, he knew that. Or at least he wasn't jealous of James. He was jealous of Lily. She would get more time with his best friend, his_ brother, _more time than he would.

He was jealous of a _girl _over a _boy. _If it had been anyone else, he would've laughed.

But it wasn't. It was him and his best friend, the only family he had besides Wormtail and Moony. And they understood that he was closer to Prongs. What was he supposed to do now?

"You ok, Padfoot?" Remus asked, concerned for his brooding friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't have to pretend nothing's wrong." Remus paused, looking at Sirius, "I know you. I know what this is about."

"Where's Wormtail?" Sirius asked, avoiding the werewolf's gaze, and changing the subject.

"Sitting by Prongs."

"What's Prongs doing?"

"Trying to listen in on Lily and Nelson's conversation."

Sirius sighed.

"Want to talk about it?"

"I don't get touchy feely moments, so if that's what you're waiting for, go away." He was fully aware that he was being rude, but he just wanted to be alone.

"Of course not, Paddy, but seriously, something's bugging you and it has to do with Lily."

Sirius scowled at the pet name, "You won't tell Prongs?"

Remus shook his head. "If you don't want me to, no."

Sirius nodded. "I'm scared." He answered and let his shoulders drop as he admitted it to himself. He _was _scared. More than just not seeing his friend as much.

"Scared?"

He looked at Remus. Remus was different than James and it was times like this that he appreciated it. James would've laughed and joked, 'Scared? Of what? The pillows attacking you in your sleep?' And he would've laughed, too. It would help, but sometimes it wasn't enough. Remus didn't question, he didn't even look unsure.

"Yeah. I don't know how to say it, but, now that there's a chance he can be with Evans, I get this _feeling _that something's going to happen to them, because they're together. Something_ really __bad_."

Remus sat down on the bed next to his friend, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He, too, had the same feeling. What worried him even more was the fact that Sirius was worried, scared even.

"Nothing will happen to James or any of us. I won't let it." The werewolf said fiercely, vowing to protect the only family he had.

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Favorite HP character and why?


	11. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

**Bloody Phantom: **Loved your explanation of Remus. It was perfect and I completely agree with you.

**SerialKeller**: He acted that way because he's never had parents. Never known what it would feel like to call Lily mum. Or anyone mum. So the thought of his mother finally finding out, finally being able to have his mother in his life, but knowing that he can't (not yet) change the past so he must erase her memory is completely crushing him. Here he has the opportunity to get to know Lily as not just a friend, but as his mother, and then because of reality and the fact that things must stay the same, he gets that opportunity ripped from him because he knows what he has to do.

**Breezers2000**: I plan on lots of interaction between Harry and Lily, don't worry.

**Thanks to anyone who reviewed. Seriously, means a lot. Anyways, read! AND REVIEW!**

"Excited for today, Lily?" Alice said, smiling as she walked in. Her eyes ran over Lily and she frowned.

"Is that what you're wearing?"

"Um, yes." Lily bit her bottom lip. "I thought it would be nice, you know with the pink little flowers and the green stripes under them. The pants are lovely. And the skirt over it-"

Alice interrupted her, her mouth shaped in a horrified 'O'.

"You don't like it." Lily stated.

"No, it's – it's not bad….just. It's ghastly."

"That bad, huh?"

Alice nodded.

"But we can fix it!" She rushed.

Lily eyes widened in fright, "We are _not _playing dress up."

"Who said anything about dress up?" Her friend answered from the bathroom.

"Just some touch ups here and there."

"But - but, this is fine!"

"If you want him to deny knowing you, then wearing it is a great idea. Now sit."

Lily huffed but sat down.

"Ok, your hair-"

"What's wrong with my hair?!"

"Nothing dear, just, it's a little frizzy."

"James _likes _my hair!"

Alice patted her shoulder sympathetically, "I'm sure he does."

After almost an hour of sitting, Lily huffed in aggravation. "Are you done yet? My legs are cramping."

"There, see I told you a little here and there would make a huge difference. Now, spin around."

She hadn't done anything to her hair, James _did_ like it, so there was nothing to do. But if they were to go by with what James liked about Lily, she could go right out of bed in a potato sack. She wanted to put Lily in a mini skirt, but her friend opted for pants instead. She decided that her friend should be true to herself. So Lily was going on her date dressed like a muggle.

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"Prongs, sit down!"

"Yeah, you're making me nervous. And I don't even have a date."

"Someone will catch your eye, Wormtail, don't worry, and then it'll be you we're trying to calm down."

"How do I look?"

"Incredibly sexy."

"Thanks, Sirius."

"Anytime."

"How sexy?" James asked nervously, looking at his reflection.

"Very." Sirius said, annoyed.

"That doesn't help."

Sirius grinned evilly, "So sexy you make me wanna-"

"_DON'T _finish that sentence." James looked horrified, his face turning green.

Remus sighed, Sirius was too much sometimes and the last thing they needed was James getting sick all over the floor, "Prongs, if you want to know how you look, go ask a girl."

"No! What if I see Lily?"

"You won't see Lily."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I'm sure Alice has her tied up somewhere." Remus responded level headedly.

"You think she's that excited to do this?"

"Of course not. Alice needs _something _to hold her down while she gives her a makeover." Sirius said, snickering.

"_Thanks, _Padfoot, that make me feel _so _much better. And Lily doesn't need a makeover. She's beautiful the way she is." James sighed happily as his eyes got distant.

"Gag."

"You're just jealous!"

"Of what? Lily Flower?"

"Would you two please stop acting like two year old girls." Remus was quickly growing tired of this whole situation.

"Two year old _sexy _girls."

"Yeah, cause that's not creepy." Peter said, shuddering.

"It's not!"

"Denial is the first stage." Peter mocked.

"The first stage to _what? _Just _what_ exactly are you insinuating?" Sirius asked, shaking his fist menacingly.

"Guys!" James yelled, "Now isn't the time!"

"James!"

"That's Alice, Prongs."

"I know who it is!"

"Geez, don't get your knickers in a twist." Sirius said defensively.

After a few moments of silence, Remus rolled his eyes and said, "Well, are you going to go or not?"

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"So….This is nice." He merely nodded. He was too busy taking her in. She looked amazing. She really did. "James? Are you even listening to me?"

He shook his head. "No, I'm sorry, Lily. I was just - do you how beautiful you are?"

She blushed and looked down.

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"No matter what, we won't talk about the weather, okay?"

He laughed. "Deal."

"Good." She smiled and boldly took his hand, gripping it tight.

James stopped for a second and looked down at their linked hands. "Is something wrong?" She asked, looking disappointed and pulling her hand back towards her. But he only held it tighter and gave her a big, goofy grin.

"Butterbeer?"

"I'd love one."

"So what do muggles do all day if they can't fly?"

She rolled her eyes. Of course, the only thing he was comparing the two worlds to was a broom. Typical.

"They work. And some people, the really rich ones, get the closest thing to a broom."

"Really?" He sounded like a child at Christmas.

"It's nowhere near the same thing. It's called an airplane."

"A plane? It sounds plain. Get it? Plane, plain? Yeah, yeah…?"

She looked at him weirdly.

He coughed nervously. "Bad joke. Sorry. Anyway, it sounds boring."

"Not if you know what you're doing, And," she hurried to add, "If you have a stunt plane, you can do, well, stunts."

"It still sounds boring." He didn't look bored at all.

"I wouldn't know. I'm scared to death of heights."

"I'll have to take you flying next time."

"Assuming there is a next time."

His face fell.

She reached over to grab his hand again and smiled, "I don't really care about next time. I'll be too busy looking forward to the time after that."

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"This is really wro-"

"Shhh!"

"Padfoot, we shouldn't be spying on them!"

"What part of SHHH do you not understand?"

"The part where 'shhh' involves us under a cramped window sill stalking our best friend on his date!"

"It's not stalking. It's watching. There's a difference!"

"When you figure out what it is, do tell me."

Sirius scowled. "You're making a bunch of noise!"

Remus didn't say anything.

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Just proving a point."

"And what point is that?"

"That _you're _the one making a bunch of noise, not me."

"Moony, I swear-"

"Lily's leaning over."

"Leaning over? Like what kind of leaning over?"

"I don't know! Leaning over is leaning over!"

"Just because you're the smallest, Wormtail, doesn't mean you're not going to get booted. If you can't see anything, then you're coming down here and I'm going up there."

"You guys aren't lifting me high enough!"

"Fine. Moony?"

They raised their shaking arms higher. The feet on their palms struggling to stay balanced.

"Merlin." Peter breathed.

"What? What is it? What happened?" Sirius asked, nearly dropping Peter in his excitement.

"Prongs kissed her!"

"Like a 'hello, I like you, is that ok?' kiss, or an 'eating your face.' kiss?"

"He pulled her over the table!"

"What?!"

"Quietly, Padfoot, even though I know you don't know the meaning of the word." Remus shushed, breathing a little harder with the effort of keeping Peter up.

Sirius scowled and opened his mouth to say something in his defense, "Padfoot…"

"She's on his lap!"

"Doing what exactly?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't answer that!" Remus yelled, horrified.

"Fun sucker."

Remus frowned, "Am not, Sirius!"

"Are, too."

"Do you honestly expect me to continue arguing about this?"

"GUYS!"

"SHHH!"

"I think it's an 'eating your face' kiss."

"Why? What's going on?"

"Er…"

"Yah, it's definitely an 'eating your face here' kiss."

Remus shook his head.

"What?"

"Where do you come up with this stuff?"

"It falls out my arse. Do you wanna know how?" He asked excitedly.

Remus blinked, "No."

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Harry took another sip of his hot, warm tea, the liquid soothingly burning his tongue. He mentally checked off most of the things on his 'what to do today' list. Not that he actually had one, of course.

He hadn't enjoyed the Hogsmeade trip like his fellow class mates or checked on his parents first date, though he was tempted to. No, he had far more important things to do than just enjoy the day. He had spent his vacation time looking for the House of Gaunt.

Unfortunately for him, he had found it. It wasn't a charmer. In fact, it was downright hideous. Abandoned, too. And so filled and protected by dark magic that the thought alone made him shudder. The outside walls were covered in a cracked, red paint. Or at least that's what the muggles would think if they saw it. But Harry knew better, it was blood. Who's? He didn't want to know.

So now that he knew where it was, he had to deal with breaking the wards. And that meant coming to terms with something he didn't want to do again. It meant he would have to go back to the Room of Requirement.

He sighed. Life hated him.

He heard a tinkling laugh and looked out the window to see Lily and James, walking hand in hand. Harry guessed they were going to come here, and not wanting to ruin his mother's fun, decided it was time to leave.

He snuck out just in time and crept around a corner.

"It falls out of my arse. Do you wanna know how?" He was pretty sure the interesting question had come from Sirius. It made him wonder just what the hell Sirius was doing.

"No."

"No, really it does."

"Oh, I'm sure it does. It sure as hell wouldn't surprise me if it did." He heard Remus' agitated voice.

"You don't really believe me, do you?"

"I wouldn't know how to answer that."

"Don't try to confuse me! And the question was rhetorical!"

"I'll try to remember you like rhetorical questions the next time you ask to borrow my history notes."

"I can't believe you don't believe me."

"Believe it."

By now, Wormtail was swaying dangerously.

"Fine. Here, I'll show you."

Remus quickly brought his hands up to cover his eyes.

"Oomph!"

"Wormtail, I'm so sorry."

"Oi. Did you feel the ground move when he fell?"

Remus gave him a stern look.

But Harry silently agreed with his Godfather-to-be. No matter how nice they could've been to Wormtail, he still betrayed them in the end. He deserved it.

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He couldn't find anything! Nothing in this bloody room had anything to do with wards. He was debating whether or not to ask Dumbledore about it. But then he'd get suspicious. And he'd ask questions. He still didn't know Occlumency. He mentally added Occlumency to 'the list' of things to do.

Going to Dumbledore was definitely not a good idea.

_Wards! Breaking down Wards! _

But not matter what he yelled inside his mind, the room refused to change. He wondered if it possible for a magical room to malfunction.

Harry shook his head and made his way to the door. Lily would want to tell him what happened on her date and he secretly wanted to know.

He shook his head again and blinked several times, but the outline of the room remained blurry. The walls shuddered and the floor moved. Harry started to run to the door, if this place was going to go crazy again, he was definitely not going to be here for it.

'_Just a few feet more to the door, just a little while longer…"_

But the moving floor was pulling him away from his escape. Then he heard the yelling, the desperate screaming. It was familiar, he realized, but thankfully it wasn't his mother's. It was a boy's or a young man's voice, a tortured sound. A chill ran up his spine. The boy sounded like he was in the deepest pain, beyond imagining.

He needed to get out, needed to leave. He didn't want to see where this was going. He wanted to leave the room alone to its convulsions. With a start, he noticed that the room really _was_ convulsing, shuddering and fading in and out of his sight.

The screaming grew louder and louder until it was at a high pitch, burning his ears, and tearing at his body. To his horror, an image was slowly being put together in front of him, the rest of the room fading into a blur. His breath caught in his throat and he lost his footing on the roller-coasting floor.

He yelled, the sound painful and full of self-loathing. And he suddenly realized the agonizing screams in the background were _him, _screaming after Sirius, begging him to come back through the veil.

Harry brought his tormented eyes up and faced what had haunted his dreams for months. He stared right back at the silent, undisrupted veil standing in all its glory before him.

He was suddenly filled with rage. A pulsing, black hatred ran through his veins. How _dare_ this thing take away what he needed most. How dare it take away another loved one.

If it was the last thing he did, he was going to destroy this veil and while doing it, pretend that it's the same evil thing that took his Godfather from him.

He asked the room to grant him something that would hurt the veil. And to his surprise, it gave him a sledge hammer.

Harry ran, screaming like a banshee, completely aware of how ridiculous he looked and how utterly pointless this was. But he wanted revenge in any form he could take, and take it, he would.

Just as he reached the steps, the fluttering curtain parted, fingers gripping its edge. Harry raised his hammer higher and took out his wand. Whoever it was, was going to go down with it, monstrous thing that the veil was.

But as the figure made its way through, Harry's fight left him. The wand and hammer fell from limp fingers and their former holder sucked in a breath.

He choked, "Sirius?"

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His once handsome face, now gaunt, broke into a large grin as Sirius Black made his way forward to embrace his Godson.

"Harry." He breathed as his arms reached for the raven haired teenager.

His mind felt sluggish, everything around him seemed to be moving differently, as if they were just minor place settings in the background. He shook his head, trying to get a coherent thought through it. And then shuddered when he realized he couldn't.

A slow, burning anger was rising in him, growing faster by the moment. He suddenly drew his wand, feeling the anger, the _hatred _flowing to the top, ready to spill over. "Not a step closer!" He shouted, barely stopping himself from cursing the Death Eater. The imposter froze mid-step and looked at him.

"Harry-"

"What kind of sick joke is this?!" 'Sirius' shook his head and opened his mouth again.

"No, never mind. I _know _what this is. I don't know how you did this, but I swear to you, you will regret it!" He hissed and moved so that the tip of his wand was pressed against the slightly taller man's throat.

"Are you going to let me explain or not?"

"I don't give a damn about explanations!" He snarled.

The man suddenly spun around, pinning Harry against him, and taking the teenager's wand. Leaving Harry confused and gasping for air.

"It's me, damn it!"

Harry shook his head furiously and struggled. "No - It _can't _be! Sirius is dead! DEAD! I watched him die! Watched him fall-" His voice broke, "You're lying!"

"What will it take to prove to you it's me?" The imposter said, breathless from his attempts at keeping Harry at bay.

"It was my fault." He whispered as if in a trance. He decided it didn't matter anymore. He was away from everyone that mattered to him, and once he left this place, _if _he ever left this place, he would never be able to talk to his parents again. People were dying because of him, because of _knowing _him, _meaning _something to him. It would be better off for everyone that was close to him if Voldemort finally ended him. The threat against his loved ones would be over. And so would this never ending fight.

He stopped struggling.

"It wasn't your fault. I should've known better than to underestimate Bella." The man said calmly.

Harry hissed, the anger he thought had dissolved, came back viciously. "Don't try to pretend you're him!"

"If I have to stun you and talk for hours to try and convince you, I will."

"I wouldn't believe you."

'Sirius' shoved the boy away from him and handed back his wand, "There. Believe me now? If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done it a long time ago."

"Who said anything about hurting me?" He spat and ran a tired hand over his angry face, "All you have to do is take me to Voldemort."

"And that doesn't classify as hurting you?" 'Sirius' said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not technically."

The man frowned and paused. After a moment, he smiled a ridiculous smile, making him look slightly wild.

"Animagus!"

Harry jumped at his sudden outburst, "What did you say?"

"An Animagus form can't be copied!"

"And how would that help you?"

"Harry, think about it! My form - Your Godfather's form - was a grim. If I transform…"

Harry's mind spun into overdrive. This was either a nightmare about to become one hell of a good dream or this was some sick, cruel joke and he was about to be taken to Voldemort - again.

But the man had other plans than to let Harry finish his question. With a pop, the tall, dark haired man in front of Harry disappeared and in his place sat a huge, black dog.

Harry stood shocked for a moment, vaguely wondering if Voldemort and his Death Eaters had found a way to replicate Animagus forms.

He refused to fall for this rouge, not wanting to be hurt again. But he could feel his resolve breaking as he watched the Grim like dog wag his tail and jump on his hind legs, barking like mad.

Harry looked into the familiar grey eyes, "Snuffles?" He whispered, afraid that saying it too loud would shatter this all too real dream.

The dog barked, padded his way toward Harry and stopped under his hand. He slowly sat down and the dog followed. Harry ran his hands over his back, and behind the ears.

After a while, he stopped.

"How…?" He asked, still dazed.

Sirius turned back into his human self and looked at Harry before beginning. "I fought them, at first. With everything I had in me." Harry gave him an odd look, and he quickly explained himself. "You heard the voices, coming from the veil?" When Harry nodded, he continued. "They aren't people, not exactly. But they're not spirits, either. Something in-between. I'm not even sure if they had actual bodies.

"But they did have hands, probing fingers that kept pulling me back, away from the Veil's entrance. You were screaming." He whispered, reaching over to rumple Harry's hair, needing to make sure he was still there, still real. "And I was yelling, begging you to stay, to wait for me to come through. I was trying, so hard, just to grasp the edge. I knew once I did that, I could pull myself through. I remember you running after Bella and Remus looking defeated and miserable. I felt guilty that I had left you alone again, both of you.

"After that, nothing really happened. Except for me constantly talking, yelling, doing anything to annoy whatever was there listening. And I knew they were listening. I told them that you needed me, that Remus needed me, and that they couldn't keep me there, since I wasn't technically dead."

Sirius smiled darkly. "They finally ended up kicking me out for annoying the hell out of them."

Harry nodded, he had no doubt that Sirius could annoy what could've been magic itself enough into getting what he wanted. The thought almost made him smile.

"I felt so…empty. There was no noise except for me talking, even the sound of my breathing was muffled. There was nothing. I had to constantly fight the mind numbing cold, I had to remember that I had something worth coming back to."

"You wanted to come back? But what about my parents?" Harry asked, feeling as though Sirius had had something very important to him ripped away.

Sirius looked at him again, "You needed me more."

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"Do you think we should be doing this, Padfoot?" James asked, warily watching Sirius wave his wand around Nelson's trunk.

"Yeah," He threw James a look, "We have to take down whatever wards he has before we try opening it."

James shook his head, "That's not what I meant. Maybe we should just drop this."

"You've been listening to Moony again, haven't you?"

"It has nothing to do with that, Wormtail, who knows what else he might've added."

"We been watching it for weeks." Sirius explained, jabbing the tip of his wand on the trunk's lid. "See, nothing happened."

James didn't look convinced. Peter moved toward him, giving him his wand. "Nelson probably figured that we wouldn't try again after what happened last time-"

"Because we _shouldn't _be trying it again."

Peter scowled, "-So we have nothing to worry about."

"Fine." James mumbled and moved closer to Sirius.

"Ready, Prongs?"

"As Ready as I'll ever be." He mumbled again.

With his eyes closed and holding his breath, he reached to open the lid. He was waiting for high pitched hissing, but it never came. The only sound was the creek of the lid opening.

"You did it!" Sirius whispered triumphantly as he moved his hand to pick up the first item.

"No! You don't know if it will react to you!"

"Right." Sirius nodded and motioned for James to continue.

He grabbed the first thing, a pile of books tied together and set it aside. "There's nothing interesting in here. It's all school stuff."

"Keep looking." Peter encouraged earnestly, "People with nothing to hide don't ward their trunks."

He had taken out random things, anything from quills to dirty socks. And then he came across a broom.

"Firebolt? I've never heard of it."

"Me either, sounds fast, though."

"We should try it out!"

"No, Padfoot, are you crazy?!"

"At least think about it?"

"No."

"Please-"

"Hey! Go back to looking!" Peter yelled, tired of them getting distracted.

Next came robes, and James neatly tossed them aside, not noticing the old, crinkled piece of paper that fell to the floor.

"Wait, Prongs, what is that?" Peter asked, pointing to the paper.

"What's what - oh, it looks like the-"

"-Marauder's Map!" Sirius exclaimed.

"It's not that old, though. And why would Nelson have it? He doesn't even know how to use it!"

Sirius picked it up, eyeing it closely. Tapping his wand to the old piece of parchment, he whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." And watched as the thin ink lines spread throughout the page and formed the familiar words _Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs._

James blinked, and looked at the other two whose faces reflected the confusion he felt. "What is this?"

"Well, it's obvious what it is. But how did it get so old?" Peter asked, looking as confused as the other two felt.

"Something's not right here." Sirius said, eyes wandering across the map in disbelief.

"Of course not! Its old looking and Nelson had it!" James yelled, furious that someone would actually steal their map.

"No, that's not what I meant. Look at this!" Peter and James moved closer, looking where Sirius was pointing.

"I don't-"

"-Look!"

There, written in green letters, was a fast moving dot labeled _Harry Potter_ and beside it, a dot moving equally as fast, _Sirius Black. _

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"I think you should be the new Defense Professor." Harry said, trying to convince his Godfather into staying around the ancient school.

"You already have a Defense professor, Harry, you don't need another one."

"Yeah, but she's rubbish and I doubt she would turn down the opportunity to be able to leave."

Sirius sighed before picking up his pace.

"At least talk to Dumbledore? Please?"

"Don't look at me like that! It's not fare!" He exclaimed, looking away from Harry's big, emerald green eyes.

"But-"

"I said I would think about it. And I guess it wouldn't hurt to talk to Dumbledore. He at least might know what I could do."

Harry scowled, "But you know what you can do!"

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"But I'm right here! I can't be in two places at once! It's not working! The map must be broken."

"The map never lies, Padfoot, you know that."

"They're going to Dumbledore's office." Peter said, gesturing towards the door, "Should we follow them?"

"Is it just me, or do you have a bad feeling about this, too?" Sirius asked, looking back at the map.

"It's three against two. I think we'll be fine." Peter nodded aggressively, agreeing with James.

"You're not the one who's going to see yourself."

"It might not be-"

"You just said that the map never lies!"

James looked away sheepishly.

Peter was anxiously watching the two dots grow closer, moving faster with each step. He was fascinated by the two names and the green letters they were written in…

They were closer, just around the corner-

"James!" He whispered.

"What?"

Peter quickly pointed at the map. James nodded curtly and poked Sirius.

"Ready?"

Bracing themselves and gripping their wands tighter, they turned the corner together and met face to face with Nelson and a man with a strange alikeness to Sirius.

The stranger gasped and went pale, "James?"

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Favorite book and why?


	12. Chapter 11

**SIRIUS FROM 1977 WILL BE CALLED BLACK. If they are NOT in the same room, they will written normally. **

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**Breezers2000: **You are amazing and your review totally made my day!

**ProtectingWithWaterAndRiptid e: **I, too, hope that one day JKR will make a book about his kids and I secretly hope that Lily and Scorpius end up together. They'd be so cute!

**CountessNicoledeLauncret: **Awesome penname by the way. Love this movie! Thanks! And I meant HP book.

**Chili Loves You: **Why thank you! I'm so glad you like both my Sirius'!

**Showstopper: **I completely agree with you as Remus and Sirius were my favorite adult characters.

**Thanks for all your reviews! Now onto the story!**

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_Peter quickly pointed at the map. James nodded curtly and poked Sirius. _

"_Ready?"_

_Bracing themselves and gripping their wands tighter, they turned the corner together and met face to face with Nelson and a man with a strange alikeness to Sirius._

_The stranger gasped and went pale, "James?"_

"Yeah and who are you?" James said, trying to sound intimidating. The man stood still, his mouth shaped in a disbelieved 'O'. Nelson quickly elbowed him.

With a brisk snap, the man closed his mouth, "Right. Which one of you is Sirius Black?"

Black pointed stiffly at himself before pointing at the man in front of him. Harry looked at his Godfather, panic evident on his face.

"Harry here was just telling me how much you happen to look like me." He paused and gave them his most charming smile, "I was curious, you see. It's nice to finally meet you, oh, cousin of mine. I'm Sirius Black, your namesake." He stepped forward and held out his hand. But Black looked at it warily and glanced at Nelson, clearly not believing them.

"Namesake, huh? How come I've never heard of you, then?"

Sirius sighed, looking the part of an extremely devastated person. "I'm related to you by your father, obviously, and because my father, William, was a blood traitor practically from birth, I wasn't put on the family tree, or rather, the tapestry in the dining room. Andy's daughter isn't on it, either, is she?"

James looked at his best friend, silently asking him if he should believe this, but his friend was staring determinedly at the man, a deep frown on his face.

"If you were disowned from the rest of the family, why would my parents name me after a blood traitor?" He said, looking oddly triumphant.

Sirius didn't miss a beat though, and smiled. "Yes, it's odd, isn't it? The name 'Sirius' has been handed down throughout the years in our family and your parents weren't going to let my father getting disowned ruin a good, respectable pureblood name."

His counterpart scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I assure you, it was in no way a means of insulting or disgracing you. It was a way of erasing my existence from the family." Black nodded jerkily. James was beginning to wonder if his friend's face was going to permanently stay frowning. The hallway had settled into an awkward silence.

The man suddenly slapped his hands together, making everyone present jump. "I think you need some time to, er, process what I've told you. I suppose Harry and I will see you around, then."

With that, he clasped Harry's shoulder and began walking again.

When they reached the gargoyle guarding Dumbledore's office, Harry suddenly stopped and looked at his Godfather. "How did you do that?"

"What do you mean?"

"How did you come up with all, all _that_? Where did it even _come _from?"

Sirius smiled. "Knowing the family tree is apparently a good thing to know. Never thought I would be thanking my mother for that..."

Harry frowned, "I've never heard you talking like that before."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "Talking like what?"

"All proper and _old_."

Sirius gasped, appalled, "You take that back! I'm not proper and I'm definitely not," He shuddered, "_old_."

His raven haired Godson smiled deviously and said, "You're thirty _seven_, you might as well be _Dumbledore_." Before whispering the password and making a mad dash up the turning stairs.

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"We're not going to believe any of that rubbish, are we?" James said, looking at a deeply thinking Peter and a pale Sirius.

"I don't know…" Peter said, eyeing Sirius. "I think we should look it up or something."

James glared at his blond haired friend, "Are you _kidding _me?! He was lying, anyone could've seen that!"

Peter sighed and pointed at Sirius. "I'll do what he does."

James huffed. "So if he was going to jump off his broom, would you do it, too?"

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. It's _his _family, so it's _his _decision."

James looked at his lost friend and turned back to Peter, "Well what if his decision isn't right?"

"It's not _our _decision." Peter all but hissed.

"Yeah, right, I know, it's his. I get it."

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't think you do."

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes. It does. He's our friend. And what he needs right now is some time to think."

"Think about _what_? And since when have you become all 'understanding'? Have you been reading that girly crap Lily leaves around again?"

Peter's cheeks reddened but he kept his head up. "Maybe. But it means the same thing. He needs some time, not you shoving your opinions down his throat."

"Whatever."

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"Well, I hope you have enjoyed your time in the past, Mr. Black."

Said person and his Godson had stumbled into the room, apologizing for their loud entrance. After they had settled themselves in and enjoyed a few lemon drops, Sirius told Dumbledore the same story he told the Marauders. He realized shortly into the story, that telling the wizard wasn't his…_best_ idea.

"In the past, sir?" He tried his best to look confused and innocent. A look that would have easily fooled anyone else.

Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled as he looked down his crooked nose. "I don't consider myself a fool, Mr. Black." Sirius tipped his head in acknowledgement. "Now, since you might be here a while, would you mind doing me a favor. Perhaps a teaching job in the castle?"

Harry nodded vigorously and mouthed 'Defense' as best he could. Dumbledore smiled at him. "How about Defense?"

Sirius scowled and looked at Harry, who had fake innocence splattered over his face. "Isn't someone already teaching that?"

"Actually, it's quite fortunate for you, really. She resigned this morning." Sirius glanced out the window and muttered a few words that would make Mrs. Weasley blush. Out the corner of his eye, he saw his enthused Godson beaming and practically jumping in his seat.

He sighed deeply, "I'll take it."

Sirius slumped back in his seat just in time to see Harry pump his fist in air and yell, "Yes!"

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"See, Moony, it makes no sense!" Remus rolled his eyes and sat next to Peter. The common room was almost empty, despite it being a Saturday.

"Sirius has a lot of family, it's always possible."

James pursed his lips and looked at Sirius. He still hadn't spoken a word and was entranced by the wand he was twirling in his hand.

"Look at him! When people find out they have family they didn't know about, they're happy! Does he look happy to you?"

"Well, no. But I'm sure there's a reason."

"Unless Mr. Silent over here decides to tell us, we won't know why!"

"Listen," Remus began, resting his head on his palm. The full moon was only a few days away and the last thing he wanted to do was put up with a James who wasn't getting his way. "He'll tell us when he's ready."

"Fine."

"Good. I'm going to bed now." He got up and headed toward the stairs.

"But," James wheezed, desperate to make at least one person see that something was seriously wrong, "He didn't explain why Nelson's last name showed up as Potter."

Remus stood still for a moment, stumped. "Maybe he doesn't know."

"The hell he doesn't know!" He yelled, suddenly standing.

"I'm not going to argue with you. Maybe tomorrow." He said warily before climbing up the stairs slowly and leaving James standing there; alone and angry.

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"It has to be bold." Sirius had both his index fingers and both thumbs shaped like a square and was looking through them at the empty defense room. "Something that will scare them and yells 'Gryffindor'. Subtly, of course."

"Paint it pink." Harry said, looking at several paint swatches. He briefly wondered where Sirius had gotten them before looking back down at the colored squares spread out around him. He was currently holding a pink little slate.

"Pink?" Sirius asked, bewildered.

"Pink." Harry said, as if finalizing the deal. He tapped the pink swatch with his wand and several others, all different shades of the color, appeared beside the original.

"Erm…"

"Like bright, neon pink." He threw the particular color at the man in front of him. "Maybe with some big unicorn stickers every few feet."

"Won't I come off a little, er, I don't know…_gay_?"

He smirked. "Probably."

"And how does that yell Gryffindor?"

Harry shrugged, "It doesn't. But it _would _scare them."

"True. I think it would get to me, though."

"Like make you gay?"

"No! It would scare me, too, eventually." Harry shook his head and looked at the plain walls.

"_Or, _we can paint Dark Marks all over. Maybe decorate shelves with a few items from Knockturn Alley. And some knives here and there wouldn't be bad, either." Sirius looked at him like he was demented.

"Personally," Harry said, looking back at the table covered in swatches, "I like the pink paint and unicorn idea better. But that's just me."

Sirius just shook his head. But he couldn't deny that the idea had potential.

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"There's something I need to tell you." Harry said suddenly as they were walking to Sirius's 'house' from the newly decorated Defense Against the Dark Arts room.

"Oh?" He said, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah…but I don't know what you'll say." Harry knew he sounded very uncertain and he cursed himself for it.

"Whatever it is, it could never make me hate you." Harry winced at how close to home base Sirius was.

"I, er, I'm hungry." He said unconvincingly and made to turn around, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder.

"Harry…"

"I'm a Parselmouth." He blurted out, his eyes downcast.

Sirius looked startled for a moment. "Harry, look at me." He waited for the sad green eyes to meet his, "I know."

"I'm sorry! I didn't want it. It was an - wait, what?"

"I know." He said again.

"And you don't care?"

"Not particularly."

"But you hate Slytherins and Dark magic and all that stuff!"

"You're not evil, Harry."

"How did you find out?" He asked, afraid at any moment Sirius would run away screaming.

Sirius sighed, "The article Rita Skeeter wrote in your fourth year. I wasn't sure if I should believe it, so I asked Remus."

"What did he say?"

"That it was true. But if I wanted to know how, I had to ask Dumbledore."

"Did you?"

"No." Sirius said with a tone of finality in his voice.

"Why?" Harry asked quietly.

"I-" He stopped, unsure of what to say next. "Dumbledore used to say that it's our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities. I don't think I could find someone who fit that description better than you, Harry."

"He told me that once, too. That's what convinced you?"

Sirius nodded and slung his arm over Harry's shoulders. They had reached a portrait of a drunk wizard on a broom, swaying dangerously. "Perfect portrait for me, isn't it?" He said with a smile.

Harry laughed, "What's going to be your password?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment, "Prongslet."

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The first thing Sirius did to his small teacher's quarters was redecorate. One could never have too much red and gold in a room.

Harry looked around the living room, smiling at how alike it was to the Common room. He sat down on one of the red couches and leaned back, his head on the arm rest.

"Here." His Godfather said, instantly waking him from his light sleep and handing him a cup of tea. He had known Harry was having a nightmare and hoped a good cup of tea would help erase the horrified lines off his face.

The teenager looked up and hesitated before asking, "Sirius? Did you see them, the night they died?"

"Yeah." He whispered as he put his cup down and ran a hand over his face. "I did."

"Like…after?" Harry asked morbidly. He didn't really know why he was asking. All he knew was that maybe it would help him understand this man that sat before him better. Even though he denied that it could be something else, like needing a good, solid reason for leaving the past alone. But he knew looking at the man before him, his gaunt face with echoes of a once handsome face, that if nothing else, he would change the fate of his godfather. He would not let him rot away in a prison cell.

Sirius closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I don't think you should know about this. It might _hurt _you."

"I remember that night. How they died. I just need to know if you _saw _them. All I know is that you gave Hagrid your bike."

Sirius paled. "You _remember_?"

Harry nodded, "It's what I see when there are dementors, although with your death, I'm sure I'd see something else…" He paused, "Didn't Remus ever tell you why he taught me the Patronus charm?"

Sirius shook his head.

"They died - fighting."

"I couldn't see them doing it any other way."

"Did you see them?" He asked again, hoping he would get an answer this time.

"I saw that house, and the first thing I thought of was you. But when I saw that you were safely tucked away in Hagrid's arms, I went in, needing to find James and Lily." He clenched his eyes shut and a lone tear made its way down his cheek.

"He looked so broken, crumpled at the foot of the stairs. He didn't even have his wand. The idiot fought without it." Harry nodded, already aware of this.

"And Lily - she looked like she was sleeping, lying on the floor like it was something everyone did. If I forget everything else that happened that night, I won't forget how her eyes were the same color in death as they were in life. They were the same emerald green they had always been, and the same color of the spell that ended her life."

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"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not really." James said, placing his head back on Lily's lap. "I think he's gone forever."

"Don't be so morbid, Potter."

"I thought we were past all that."

"Just like Black will get past this as well. He'll be fine, James, just give him some time."

James groaned, "That's what everyone keeps saying."

She stopped running her hand through his hair, "Then maybe you should listen."

If he wasn't so worried about his friend, he would've stopped to think that he, too, had discovered a relative he wasn't aware even existed. But as his friend's health mattered more, he hadn't.

But he would.

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Fun fact: Sirius (Harry's godfather) is actually the third Sirius in his family. The last Sirius died in 1952. This will be important later on in the story.

**If you could bring back one character from HP who died throughout the series, who would it be and why?**

What do you think of the pink paint and unicorn idea?


	13. Chapter 12

**Awinarock: **I'm glad someone agrees about Ron/Hermione. I truly hate this pairing. And yes, Draco/Hermione only works if it's done right. I disagree, however, about Draco not killing Dumbledore just because he didn't have the conviction to fight for what he believed in. He didn't believe in being a Death Eater. He did it to keep his parents safe which he basically said right before Dumbledore died. Secondly, he didn't want to give away Harry, Ron, and Hermione when they were captured at Malfoy Manor. And lastly, by the time the final battle came, none of the Malfoys wanted to be with Voldemort. Harry/Bellatrix would never work for me because I could never get over her killing Sirius. And she's a diehard Voldemort supporter; I doubt anything, since she killed her cousins, would change her mindset.

**CountessNicoledeLancret: **Yes. James is going to wonder about Harry 'Potter'. But he won't for a while. And when he does, I haven't decided if he's going to find out that Harry's his son or if Harry is just going to be a 'relative'. As far as who you would bring back, I agree. Fred would definitely be my first choice.

**Jessalynvix: **I have never considered having Dobby in the bank instead of the goblin. But now that you gave me the idea, you are completely right.

**Aalens: **Don't worry, the pink will work itself out because I don't want an Umbridge repeat lol.

**xxxImNotOkayxxx: **To me, Cedric's death was sad, but it needed to happen. I felt like the only way he really added to the plot was through his death. I never felt much of a connection to his character.

**Breezers2000: **Your reviews always make my day!

**She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Sane: **I've never really thought about the Founders before. But you bring up a good point. They were friends, what happened that tore them apart?

**Nandyroo94: **I would bring Tonks back for Teddy. I've thought about a Harry/Tonks relationship and I can't see it. I actually really like her with Remus.

**I love reading everyone's opinions. Most of you want Fred back and I agree because George deserves it. **

**Thanks for all the reviews! I love love love them!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

SIRIUS FROM 1977 WILL BE **bolded. **

"_Human Transfiguration is the most difficult of its kind. The reason lies with the human brain-"_

"-Lily, really, that's the fourth time you've read that sentence." Alice snapped her fingers in front of Lily's face.

"Oh, yeah, I guess it is." She said distractedly.

Alice groaned, "Alright, what's going on? Is it James?" She picked up her butter knife, "I'll kill him."

"No, it's not James," She paused, looking a little worried at the knife in her friend's hand and twirled a lock of auburn hair around her finger. "It's Black."

"Lily Evans!" Alice said, outraged and slammed her fist on the table, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself! At least have some decency and dump James first!"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, "What are you talking - Alice! I would never do that! What I meant is that James is worried about Black. And nothing _could_ go on between us, he's just so-" she shuddered, "-ugh."

"I don't know…" Alice looked behind her and watched Sirius leave the Great Hall, eyeing his back side, "I wouldn't let that stop me."

Lily gagged, "What about Frank?"

"What about him?"

She rolled her eyes and decided to go back to the original conversation. "Anyway, haven't you noticed Black's been acting a little…off?"

"Off? He acts 'off' whenever he's had more sugar than what is in a slice of bread."

Lily scowled, "I'm not talking about the kind of off like when he had two cups of coffee and dressed in a tutu singing _Love Shack._"

Alice smiled, "Good times, good times."

"That's not the point." Lily bit out, "He's _depressed _and you'd think a stalker like you would know it."

"I'm not a stalker." She hissed, crossing her arms over her chest and sticking her nose in the air. She grinned, "Only where Frank is concerned."

Lily sighed and rubbed her temples, "We keep getting off topic."

"Fine. He's acting 'depressed', so what? Knowing him, it's probably over getting a letter from his mother."

"You're terrible!" She said, getting up and pushing her plate away from her.

"Aw, come on, Lily, you remember what happened the last time he got one. He rubbed poison ivy all over the Slytherins' toilet paper!"

Her lip twitched up. "I'm going to find Harry." She said as she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out the Great Hall.

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"What do you think they'll do?"

"Besides run away screaming?" Harry said with a smile.

"Besides that."

"I think your preference will come into question."

Sirius threw him a look. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I was under the impression that we were speaking English."

Harry rolled his eyes, "They'll wonder if you're gay."

Sirius raised his eyebrows and sighed, "It'll be BRILLIANT!"

"Harry! There you are. I was looking for you." Lily said smiling, appearing from around the corner.

"Hi." He said uncomfortably and glanced over at Snuffles - who looked like a deer caught in headlights - before turning back to his mother.

"Hi, Sirius." She practically yelled, overjoyed at seeing the man who made her son so happy standing next to him.

"Er…" Sirius said, barely able to get the blurb out.

"How…?" Harry asked her, wondering how she knew who the older man was since he hardly resembled the teenage Sirius.

"Your photo album, of course!" She laughed and smiled at him.

"Er…" Sirius repeated, unsure of what to say.

Harry coughed nervously, "What he means is, it's nice to meet you, too - again." Harry smiled at the last word. The irony almost made him laugh.

"Right," Sirius whispered, looking at his dead friend for the first time in 14 years, "Hello, Lily."

Her smile grew, she was genuinely curious. "So what do you have planned for today's lesson?"

Sirius pretended to look sad, "I have no idea."

"Sure." Lily said sarcastically as they started walking again toward the Defense Room.

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"Um…"

"I know. It's too amazing for words." Sirius told Lily as she walked into the room, laughing to himself when she squinted.

The bright, neon pink was really beginning to hurt her eyes. But she kept that to herself as she watched the large, sparkly unicorns dance about the walls, jumping over singing purple streams. Lily shook her head at the baby blue lake painted in the corner with little pink mermaids swimming through the light colored water. But the focal point of the class room wasn't the shiny purple streams with rocks made from rhinestones at the river's bottom or the ballerinas gracefully jumping with the unicorns, no, it was the huge rainbow stretching from one end of the wall to the next at the front of the room. A rainbow that was held up by cotton candy clouds, and under it, a giant griffin, silently roaring and shaking his mane.

It was almost too much to take in and Lily remained silent, trying to wrap her head around the idea of it all.

"Now, imagine that, times thirty." Harry said smiling.

Sirius nodded vigorously and gave him the thumbs up sign.

Lily looked at them, confused. "Wha - _why?_"

Sirius shrugged and looked at Harry, "It was the only way we could save the students."

Lily sighed. He might look different, but he was definitely still Sirius Black.

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"I want to look up my family tree." Startled, the three Marauders looked at Sirius, surprised that he was talking.

"Alright." Remus said, looking at James and Peter. "I don't think Hogwarts keeps that kind of information here, though."

James shook his head, "I remember my dad saying something about that. They keep the records at the Ministry. It's heavily guarded."

"_But,_" Remus began, trying to sound encouraging, "I'm sure they let the family members see it. Or maybe they could just send you a copy."

Sirius nodded, "Mother said something about a record of all the members of the Black family, disowned or not, was also kept in the family vault. Although I'm sure she's made it impossible for me to access it."

"Then the Ministry is our best bet."

"Yeah, but we should hurry or we're going to be late for Defense." Peter added. "Didn't Dumbledore say we had a new professor?"

Remus nodded.

The students were lined up outside the DADA classroom door, Slytherins on one side, Gryffindors on the other.

"Where's Lily?" James asked, looking around and not seeing her.

"I haven't seen her all morning. Or Nelson." Sirius put in, not quite looking James in the eye.

"He didn't sleep in our dorm last night, either." Peter said, eyeing the turning door knob. "And I think class is about to start."

"Come in." Their Professor said, holding a teddy bear. He sniggered at their shocked faces.

"Go on," He encouraged, eager to see what they'd do. "I'm on a bit of a tight schedule."

The Slytherins went first, but they didn't get too far since the first couple of people stopped a few feet passed the door. He rolled his eyes, growing impatient and 'lightly' pushed the closest Slytherin past the doorway. He ignored the pile of knocked over students and looked at the Gryffindors.

They hurriedly rushed through the door, not bothering to step over the fallen Slytherins, but they, too, stopped. Sirius cackled evilly and rubbed his hands together. The Marauders were the last through and Sirius closed the door behind them.

"Bloody hell." James exclaimed as he looked around. "It's like a little girl threw up all over the walls."

"It's beautiful." **Sirius **breathed, momentarily forgetting what had been weighing down his mind. "I feel honored to be in its presence."

James looked at him like he'd just grown another head and Remus smiled, while Peter was seeing if he could fall into the painted lake.

"What _is _this?" Alice asked Harry.

Harry shrugged and smiled at Lily. "Sirius - um - I mean the professor thought this would shock his students and make teaching easier."

"_How_?"

He shook his head and pointed at his Godfather standing at the front of the room. "He's starting."

"I'm Mr. Sirius, no, really, that's my name and I expect you to use it. I want- James, put your hand down." He said, noticing James waving his hand around frantically to ask a question. "And to answer your question, I'm not gay." The class looked at him disbelievingly, as did James. He was surprised that his teacher he barely met knew what he was going to ask without saying a word. _Odd, _he thought, not noticing **Sirius **narrowing his eyes suspiciously at their new professor.

"I'm not. I thought this would make fighting and learning easier. When dueling, you need to expect everything and welcome distractions. And this," He pointed at the walls, "Is the perfect distraction. Imagine fighting Voldemort," He rolled his eyes, "It's just a _name, _damn it, and if you're afraid of his bloody name, how do you expect to win this war?"

He waved his wand and the walls surrounding them turned a neutral tan. The crazy colors of the room were starting to distract him from teaching. He smirked when he heard the relieved sighs from his students.

"Anyway, imagine fighting Voldemort - much better, try a little less wincing next time - with a limited amount of Aurors by your side. You're at Diagon Alley, trying to defend the innocent shoppers from the Death Eaters and dementors plaguing the streets. What do you do? Do you fight the Death Eaters or the dementors?"

Sirius knew he had their unwavering attention. "How many of you even know how to repel a dementor?" A few of them raised their hands. "Does anyone here know the incantation?" He expected Harry to raise his hand, but his Godson subtly pointed to Lily.

"Expecto patronum."

Sirius smiled, "Ten points to Gryffindor."

"Does anyone know how to cast it?" He gave Harry a questioning look and sighed when no one knew the answer.

"It must be cast with a happy memory, the more powerful, the better. I have a boggart here and, I'm sorry, Harry, but can you come up here?" Harry frowned and slowly walked to the front of the classroom. Sirius threw him a sympathetic look.

"Harry's boggart takes the shape of a dementor." He paused, noticing Lily's worried look, before continuing, "I want you to all to focus on its presence. After this exercise, take out a piece of parchment and write down _exactly _how the dementor made you feel. If you put down cold and sad, you'll get a Troll. When you're finished, put it in the tray on my desk. Ready?"

"Sirius," Harry said, looking concerned more for his godfather, than for himself, "I know that I can handle this, but…can you? You can't conjure a Patronus anymore after Azkaban."

The older man looked grim, "Unfortunately, this is something they need to learn. Now. Before it's too late. I know whose lives this lesson will save." Sirius answered, looking determined and very pale.

Harry nodded, watched as Sirius opened the trunk, and took a deep breath as a chilling cold filled the room.

The cloaked figure was gliding toward him, ignoring everyone else in the room, and instead of hearing his mother's pleading screams like he had expected, he heard his own; begging for his godfather to come back to him. He panicked, he never wanted to relive that awful day again. Without even thinking of the consequences, he raised his wand and shouted, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

In the back of the classroom, a deeply terrified James felt suddenly at peace. He opened his eyes and in front of him, was a white, shining stag. A stag that looked exactly like Prongs...

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"What were you thinking!" He growled, and then quickly turned, facing away from his godson while trying to calm down.

"I - I wasn't"

"Clearly."

Harry frowned and looked at his mother who was sitting in the corner of the room. "I don't understand. You live for this stuff. Living life on the edge, isn't that what you call it?"

Sirius sighed and slumped into a nearby chair. Moments after Harry's Patronus had vanished into thin air, he immediately ended class, their assignment forgotten. Even though they tried to conceal their shock, he didn't miss the looks the Marauders had exchanged.

"This is so much bigger than that. We can't afford for more people to know. It could change everything!"

Harry glanced at Lily, giving her a knowing look, "Isn't that what you want, though. What _we _want?" He whispered, taking in his godfather's pained look.

Sirius closed his eyes. "What's done, is done. I'd be the first person to say it's a chance worth taking. But not with this, Harry, this is so much bigger than us. Let the past be."

Harry pursed his lips. He decided he didn't much like a reasonable, responsible Sirius.

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"Well that was odd."

"Odd? _Odd?_" A very red-faced James asked his best friend. "Shut up!" He yelled before violently chucking a pillow at Sirius's head.

Sirius raised his hands in defeat and silently asked Remus to do something. Remus shook his head and looked at Peter. "James, it could mean nothing."

"How the bloody hell would you know!" He screamed, his voice going hoarse.

"I was just trying to -"

"I know what you were trying to do." He said quietly, finally calming down and realizing just how out of control he had gotten. "I don't understand it, though. There's something off about him, and Lily's on his side. And now this…"

"Yeah. I get it. We all do. But it's not like we can hold a wand to his throat and force him to tell us." Peter said. James looked up, his eyes lighting up.

"Who said we can't?"

"Prongs, that's not an option." Remus said evenly.

"Who said?"

"Oh, I don't know, being rational? Sane? Reasonable? Take your pick, James!"

James leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful look on his face. "How far were we on getting Sirius's family tree?" He said, asking no one in particular.

Remus shot him a suspicious look, clearly not believing he was letting go of the Harry issue so easily.

"I thought you were going to owl your dad?"

"I was." James picked up a quill and Sirius handed him some parchment.

"What should it say? It has to sound smart and mature."

"Two things you're not, Padfoot."

Sirius scowled, "Well if you're so smart, why don't you write it, then?"

Remus shook his head, "It has to be James or his dad will get suspicious."

"Right."

The sound of a quill scratching across parchment filled the room. James bent over his work diligently and his brows furrowed.

"There." He exclaimed after a half an hour of writing. "How does this sound?"

"_Hey Dad, _

_Sirius wanted to know if you could send a copy of his family tree. _

_Thanks, (did you check out that broom I told you about?)_

_James Potter."_

"It took you _thirty _minutes to write that?"

"I didn't know if it should be serious, like we're desperate to have it, or like it could be something Sirius just wanted to know out of curiosity. He'd get suspicious if it sounded like we needed it now. This way he'll think it's just because."

Remus frowned, "Is that why you added the bit about the broom?"

James smiled, "Exactly."

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Alice sat across from Lily in the Common Room. Lily was innocently doing her homework and Alice was looking at her, trying to see if there was anything different about her.

"Do you like Harry?"

Lily laughed, "Of course I do."

"No, I mean, do you love him?" _Of course I do, _Lily thought, _just not in the way you think. _

"No."

"I think you're lying." Alice said accusingly, jabbing her quill at her friend.

"Honestly, Alice, if I did, you'd be the first person I'd tell."

"Then if that's not the case, what's going on between you two?"

Lily sighed, she had been wondering when this conversation was going to come up. She looked into the fire, watching the flames come up and then flicker away. "It's complicated. He's important, I feel like I've known him for years."

Alice waited, expecting more, and when she realized that was all her best friend was going to give her, she got up and walked away.

_I'll deal with her tomorrow._

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Sirius Black was far more complicated than most people thought. It was well known that he despised his family for their warped way of thinking. It was well known that he hated his little brother and Severus Snape.

It was far less known, however, that he did not hate his entire family. He loved his cousin, Narcissa, but knew the day she married Lucius was the day she would no longer consider him family. He also loved his cousin, Andromeda. But most of all, he loved his brother.

No. He didn't hate his entire family. He hated his parents, for influencing his little brother. He hated Bella because he knew she was the one who took Regulas to his initiation. And he hated himself, for not being able to stop any of it. Snape was just a greasy git who happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

In reality, there wasn't much known about Sirius Black. There were parts of him that even his fellow Marauders didn't know. And this is why he hadn't spoken a word in days.

The lie he told his best friends was eating him up inside. He knew the Black family tree like the back of his hand; whether they had families who had been disowned or not, it was required that a Black know who they are related to.

So he knew, without having to see the records that the last Sirius Black had died in 1952.

He also knew that the map never lies. That meant that there were two Sirius Blacks running around, who looked alike. And one Harry 'Nelson' Potter who looked exactly like James.

With Lily Evan's bright green eyes and a Prongs shaped patronus.

And this is why he hadn't breathed a word. Because no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he knew it wasn't possible, he knew by looking at Harry sitting next to Lily furiously scribbling on her parchment. He knew by seeing James close behind the redhead trying to listen in on her conversation, he _knew _just who Harry was.

So he sat calmly, watching Harry and Lily, until he saw something that made his breath hitch and his heart skip a beat.

Lily bent over her homework and Harry looking at her with an expression so mournful, so heart wrenching in those matching green eyes, that Sirius, being a smarter man than most people gave him credit for, _knew _that somewhere in the future, Lily dies. And in that moment, he realized that the foreboding feeling that had been hanging over him was very real.

So for the first time in Sirius Black's short life, with a cold dread squeezing his heart, he would watch and wait. And when the time came, if he needed to, he knew he would gladly lay down his life to save his best friend's and the little family James didn't know he had.

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**The Host or Twilight? **


	14. Chapter 13

**Booklover0608: **It is ominous, but Sirius is definitely the type of friend who is loyal and would do anything to keep his friends safe.

**Angel No Yami: **I'm glad you liked it. I'm going to start having more Harry/Lily interaction, it just hasn't been fitting in with the plot recently. And the Host is definitely better written then Twilight, granted I read it when I was 14, but the story line is unique and much better than Twilight.

**SuperHeroFanGurl: **I'll have to give that series a shot!

**Breezers2000: **Well that's ironic, isn't it? Lol I'm glad you like the story!

**Anele1996: **I feel like if Sirius had known what would happen to James and Lily, this is how he would've reacted.

**For everyone who reviewed, thank you!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

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With the excitement of getting his beloved godfather back and trying to keep their secret, Harry realized it had been weeks since he worked on getting past the wards of Gaunt house. Time was beginning to slip through his fingers and he didn't have a second time turner at his disposal to get it back. With that in mind, he decided to skip another trip to the Room of Requirement, and go straight to the one place that seemed to always have answers for one Hermione Granger; the library.

After smartly avoiding the Marauders, wondering what on earth they were even doing in the library, he headed toward the back of the massive room to the less used sections and began his search. Thirty minutes in, with tension building behind his eyes, he finally found a tome that might be of some use. _Wards for the Devious and Cunning. _

He promptly checked it out and headed back to Sirius' rooms, knowing that the older man was still in class, leaving Harry with a few uninterrupted hours of research. He thumbed through the chapters, knowing that most of the wards were far too tame for Tom Riddle's tastes, until he stumbled upon the blood wards.

_Blood wards are the strongest and most reliable forms of protection. There are two types; the first is familial blood wards, in which only family members are under protection, and the second is the offering of one's blood as a sacrifice, as a means of entry. _

The rest of the article was torn off.

_The Restricted Section it is, then. _Harry thought to himself as he set the large book down. _Maybe I'm over thinking this. _He shook his head. What if Voldemort was so full of himself that he simply warded the house with Parseltongue, thinking he was the only living Parselmouth? It was a thought to consider, and if he didn't find anything promising in the Restricted Section that night, then he would try hissing his way past the wards tomorrow.

"Harry," Sirius said, walking through the portrait and setting down his book bag, delighted to know that he wouldn't have to hunt his godson down, "What do you say to a little drink in Hogsmeade?"

Harry smiled, while casually putting the book he'd been reading into his bag, "I'm underage."

The older man laughed, "Since when has that ever stopped you? Come on, it'll be fun. And just what we need after the stressful week we've been having."

"So are we back to you being 'careless Sirius', then?" Harry said seriously, shouldering his bag and getting up to leave.

Sirius looked at the teenager, taking in the circles under his eyes and the pinched look on his face, "Harry, what's done, is done. I'm only trying to save us both the pain by not trying to fix something that can't be changed. I want them back as much as you do, you know that." He whispered.

Harry clenched his jaw, "Better to have tried. And it doesn't seem like you want to put in the effort."

"Don't you dare say that to me, of all people, Harry Potter!" Sirius yelled, taking an angry step towards the raven haired boy, "Your parents meant the world to me, they were the only family I had besides you and Remus! I would give anything to have them back, so don't you dare throw that in my face!"

Harry flinched, but the fury burning inside him pushed his guilt at hurting his godfather aside, "Well, here's your chance to 'give anything to have them back'! It's sitting right in front of your face but you're too damned scared to try! Even if it fails, wouldn't you rather know that you gave it your best shot then to have not even tried?" He said hoarsely, searching for an answer on the man's gaunt face.

"No. Messing with the past is dangerous. If we change one thing, it will positively or negatively alter another. Do you know what that means? We could save your parents' lives, yes, but at what cost? Changing something as drastic as saving two lives that had a huge impact on the Wizarding world could ruin the lives of thousands. Voldemort would still be in power, instead of ten years of peace. Many more muggleborns would be targeted, including their families, and I'm sure that if Voldemort had ten more years of influence, the war would've spread to the muggles and surrounding countries."

"Not if we do it the right way. I have a plan, a good –"

"You don't get it, do you? We could do some serious damage. If we mess with this enough, you might not even be born!" He choked, his throat tightening and his eyes misting at the thought. He looked at his solemn godson, "We would be playing with thousands of innocent people's lives. I truly loved your parents, and as much as James was like a brother to me and I want nothing more than to have him back, the thought of losing you again, Harry, is unbearable."

Harry stood there, shocked. He hadn't expected the reason Sirius was so hesitant was because he feared losing him. "I – Sirius, I'm not going anywhere. How many times have I had attempts on my life and I'm still here." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Sirius' frown, if possible, turned down even more, "This isn't funny."

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I know. But I have a plan – and before you shoot it down – it's Dumbledore's idea." Saying Dumbledore, he realized, was like saying the magic word.

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Sirius Black was in a sticky situation.

Sitting on the window sill of their dorm room was the Potter's family owl and in his hand was the letter Mr. Potter had sent his son. In it was Sirius' family tree and he knew there was no way the Marauders could see it, or at least the real one. He opened the letter, briefly reading Mr. Potter's reply to James about the broom he wanted, and then skipping to the official Ministry document that was behind it. Sirius pulled out his wand, reciting the spell he needed in his head before running his wand over the parchment and saying, "_Rescribo._" He watched as the branch that held the first Sirius Black's date of birth and death changed from 1877-1952 to 1937 - . Satisfied, he placed everything back in the envelope and sealed the package, making it look untouched.

He breathed a sigh of relief and decided he deserved something sweet to eat for all the stress he'd had to endure. Sirius left his dorm and headed for the kitchens, a slight skip in his step and feeling lighter than he had in weeks.

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Harry, after discussing his brilliant plan with his godfather, decided he should give the Room of Requirement another shot. On his way there, he heard someone whistling 'God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriff' and as he rounded the next corner, he ran into the whistler, none other than the 16 year old Sirius Black.

Harry took a quick step back, "Er, I'm sorry." He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck nervously and slowly making his way around the other teen. "I'll be sure to watch where I'm going next time, Black." And with that, he walked as fast as he could to the next hallway, not looking back once.

Not that Sirius Black would've known what to say to him, now that he knew who Harry really was.

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"So, are you going to tell me just what you've been doing shut in that magical room, Harry?" Lily asked her son as he sat down for dinner. "This is the first time I've seen you since our defense class two days ago." She said accusingly, sounding a little hurt.

Harry looked at his plate guilty, "Sorry, Lily. I've been helping Sirius out with his lesson plans. He's got some intense stuff planned." He hoped he sounded convincing. The last thing he wanted was his mother knowing the kind of danger he was putting himself in He'd get an earful.

Alice looked at him oddly and grabbed another bread roll. She kept glancing between Lily and Harry suspiciously, searching for signs of any 'fraternizing'.

"Alice," Lily ground out, fed up and furious at her best friend's behavior, "There is nothing going on between Harry and me, so _stop_ –" she nearly snarled, surprising her friend and son, "acting like that or you can sit somewhere else."

Alice looked at redhead before staring down at her lap for a while, "I'm sorry. I – I know you wouldn't do that to James –"

"No I wouldn't and as my best friend, you should know better than to treat me like some common harlot."

Alice flushed, embarrassed, "Anyway, it's just that I know something is going on. And well, frankly, I'm a bit hurt that you won't tell me what it is."

Lily glanced at Harry, those same green eyes widening in worry, "It's not my secret to tell and it isn't Harry's, either. Please, Alice, try to understand. You know I would tell you anything if I could."

Her friend frowned and she knew that wasn't the answer she had been hoping for. But Alice thought that she would get answers eventually and resumed eating, smiling lazily at the green eyed duo. Taking that as a hint, Lily let out a relieved sigh, glad to have her friend back and Harry smiled, saying, "So just what were you and Frank doing the other night coming out of that broom cupboard?

Alice flushed a brilliant shade of red and nearly choked on her pumpkin juice.

And with that, their little trio returned to normal.

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"_Runes_." Harry breathed, in awe of the shear simplicity. Could the answer to breaking the wards really be that simple?

Harry slammed the book shut with a brisk _snap, _his heart pounding,and nearly ran to Sirius' quarters, knowing the man would be furious if he left alone.

"Sirius!" He yelled, bursting through the portrait, only to see the young Sirius Black sitting in his godfather's living room, with said godfather's brow furrowed in stress. "Er, what's going on?" Harry asked, placing his large book on a side table and looking anxiously between the two men.

"Mr. Black here wanted to know more about why my family was disowned." The silence that followed the older man's words was long and awkward. Harry ran a hand through his disheveled hair, trying to ignore the way the other teen was staring at him.

"I hope you found the answers you were looking for. Now if you don't mind, I need the Professor."

The other teen nodded and got up, looking at his older self and nearly smiling at how odd that sounded. As he walked passed Harry, he stopped and ran his eyes over the familiar face of his best friend, with eyes that held a deep sorrow that Lily's lacked. He almost said something to Harry about knowing his identity, but the fear of having his memory erased and not being able to save his friend's life kept his lips closed.

"Nelson." He said with no hostility and walked out the door.

"What was all that?" Harry asked, "What did you tell him?"

Sirius sighed and sat back down, running a tired hand over his tired face, "I just stuck with the story we told them. Do you have any idea how hard it is to lie to yourself? Literally?" Sirius shook his head at the thought, "This whole situation is crazy. I really hope this plan of yours works, Harry. The sooner, the better."

"Actually," Harry began, smiling. The confrontation with Black already forgotten in his excitement, "I think faze one can begin. _The sooner, the better._"

And that is how the duo found themselves at the Gaunt house. "Cheerful place, isn't it?" Sirius said, suppressing a shudder. "Is it safe to walk into that sorry looking pile of rubbish? The Shrieking Shack looks more stable."

"Of course it isn't, Padfoot. What, did you expect this to be a nice little walk in the park?" Harry said sarcastically, pulling out his wand and hissing "_Open,_" at the dead snake on the door. The hinges creaked as it opened, nearly falling off the hinges.

"Ugh, it's even worse inside!" Sirius proclaimed, squinting his eyes to see in the gloomy light, "What's the point of having windows if they're too damned dirty to see through?"

Harry shook his head and looked around the dirty room, paying close attention for traces of magic.

A low sound came from the corner of the room and as Harry cautiously made his way to it, he realized it was faint, indecipherable hissing. The floor boards were slightly raised at the corner of the wall and Harry knew this was it.

Taking out the knife he had conjured earlier, he pricked his finger, hearing Sirius splutter in anger behind him. With the blood pooling on his index finger, he drew a straight, vertical line on the floor with a diagonal line connecting on the bottom slanted to the left – pointing up - and a similar line connecting on the top slanted to the right – pointing down. The rune for immortality.

The hissing grew louder, "_Keep me safe,_" it was saying, and Harry withdrew his hand. A bright beam of light shot out of the floor, the floor boards seeming to melt away and revealing a golden box tucked under the worn wood.

"_Open._" He hissed, the lid to the box popping open. Inside laid a perfect gold ring with a black stone. Harry ignored the compulsion to touch it and closed the lid, picking up the box and returning to Sirius.

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"So let me get this straight. You want to break into Dumbledore's office, steal Gryffindor's sword, scurry into the Chamber of Secrets, kill possibly the most dangerous creature in the world, and use the sword now covered in basilisk venom to destroy the ring, correct?"

Harry nodded, amazed that his godfather said all that in one breath, "Well, technically, we could use a basilisk tooth, too."

Sirius looked at him from across his sitting room, "Are you _insane?_ If you think I'm going to let you do that, Harry –"

"It's not like I haven't before. And I was _twelve_." He interrupted, crossing his arms and acting very much like the twelve year old he had been when he killed the giant snake. "I have a plan, of course."

Sirius sighed, "Another one of your brilliant plans. Great."

Harry frowned, "I don't have Hermione here to figure things out, so I have to be the brains of the operation now."

"And what am I? Chopped liver?"

"Sirius, you know that's not what I meant. But it's a genius plan. I'm going to take a rooster down there with me and make it crow. Instantly kill the basilisk. Then, I'll take the sword, cover it in venom, and destroy the ring."

Sirius couldn't deny that he was impressed, "Roosters don't crow on demand, Harry."

"And that's the part I was hoping you could help me out with. Have you ever cast an Imperius curse before?"

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"So there really is another Sirius Black in your family." James said in disbelief. "Who would've thought our crazy professor was telling the truth."

"I'm hoping this means you're going to let all this drama go, James. I'm talking about Nelson as well." Remus said seriously, the stress of trying to keep his friend at bay finally showing.

"What does knowing our professor was telling the truth have anything to do with that evil Nelson?" James asked, seeing Remus frown and wondering why Sirius was doing the same.

"Maybe Remus is right, James. I think we should let it go." Sirius stated, seeing Peter's eyes go wide at his words.

"But Padfoot, you were the one was so against Nelson in the first place." Peter said, sitting on the bed paging through the latest edition of _Witch Weekly_.

"Well, yes. But Nelson hasn't done anything suspicious lately. And because we've spent so much energy following him around, our pranking has been neglected. We've become a disgrace to the Marauder name." Sirius said sadly, bowing his head in distress.

James and Peter looked at each other and nodded, "I suppose you're right. We'll get back to Nelson later."

Remus shook his head and scowled, "You're all mad." And with that, he left; robes billowing behind him in such a way that would make Professor Snape proud.

James sighed, "It's like Moony's wand has been permanently in a knot. He's been a cranky git."

"Maybe he's met someone and his wand really is in a knot." Peter said, casually turning a page in his magazine, "I mean, think about it. It makes sense."

"Wormtail, did you get that idea from that girl crap again?" James asked while Sirius considered ripping said girl crap up and burning it.

"Certainly did. This stuff is fascinating. You guys should try reading it some time."

James walked across the room to Peter and read the front cover, "Oh yes. I'd be _delighted _to read about this year's most eligible bachelor." Then he scowled and gagged, "Lucius Malfoy, really? _With his golden locks and dashing grey eyes, who wouldn't want a piece of this rich bad boy? Narcissa Black better watch out!_ Ugh, why do you read this stuff, Peter? It's ghastly!"

Sirius frowned, "They forgot to add how having a dark mark adds to his bad boy persona."

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"It's been a while since we've seen each other." James breathed, wrapping his arms around Lily in a hug. "I've missed you."

"James, it's been a few hours." She laughed, sinking into his arms and burying the feeling of guilt, of hiding the existence of their son from him, deep down.

"Class doesn't count, Lils. You sit three rows in front of me with Alice and Nelson." He pulled away from her and looked down at her face accusingly. "What do you see in him, anyway?"

She sighed and started walking forward, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together in an attempt to calm him, "Besides the fact that he looks just like you?" He frowned and started pulling away, but she kept her grip firm, "James, please, let's not talk about this, ok? He's my friend, and while I wish you could see the good in him – don't look at me like that, James Potter! He's a good man. You're just too stubborn to see it! Why can't you just give him a chance?" She asked, wanting their son to get to know his father before it was too late. She shuddered and buried that memory, too.

"He's dark, Lily. The hissing coming from his trunk, he's a Parslemouth! He's full of lies, why can't you see that?" He pleaded, hazel eyes boring into her own emerald green.

She pulled her hand out of his, "Just because he chooses not to tell you his entire life story, James, does _not _make him a liar! And who are you to judge on what characteristics makes someone dark? What, with having a werewolf for a best friend? Remus is a good person, despite his condition. And being a Parslemouth is hereditary, so if he is one, he can't control it!" She yelled, looking at his shocked face.

"You have your faults, James, but I had hoped you had moved passed being a hypocrite." And with that, she walked off, leaving the messy haired teen to gape at her retreating figure.

He heard a stifled sob come from down the hall and with guilt weighing heavily at his heart, he started to follow her.

As he rounded the next corner, he saw her crying into the shoulder of his carbon copy. He felt his insides grow cold at the sight and just when he was about to say something, Nelson spoke, "I'm sorry, Lily." And Nelson looked up, staring straight at James with the most haunted eyes he'd ever seen. In that moment, James saw him for what he really was; a teenager that had been through indescribable suffering. But his next words shattered the thought, "It's rude to eavesdrop, Potter."

Harry let go of his mother as she turned around to see James, a frown appearing on her face. It broke Harry's heart to see her in such pain. And it was his fault. "I'll see you around, Lily. I'll be with the Professor." He walked toward his father and as he passed, he stopped to whisper, "Hate me all you want, but it's not an excuse to treat her like this. Don't do it again, understand?"

For once in his life, James kept his smart reply to himself and nodded.

If he couldn't protect both his parents, he would at least protect his mother.

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The rune for immortality is actually real. And the idea of using the imperius on a rooster came from the story Adrift in a World by Miss Whisker which is an excellent story, though sadly unfinished. My idea is slightly different, though.


End file.
